
Glass UJ {;3 <^ 

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COFkBIGHT DEPOSm 



THE GOSPEL IN THE LIGHT OF 
THE GREAT WAR 



THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 



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THE 

GOSPEL IN THE LIGHT OF 

THE GREAT WAR 



By 

OZORA S. DAVIS 




THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 






Copyright igig By 
The University of Chicago 



All Rights Reserved 



Published March 1919 



Composed and Printed By 

The University of Chicag-o Press 

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. 

©CI.A511952 

Wa 20 19i9 



PREFACE 

This book is not a treatise on formal homiletics. 
It is designed as a workable manual for the preacher who 
is facing the opportunities of the pulpit in an age which 
the writer believes is the most challenging and fas- 
cinating in the history of the Christian church. The 
Great War not only raised tremendous questions with 
which the preacher must deal, but it called a literature 
into being which is throbbing with life and power. The 
letters and meditations of the soldiers are priceless, 
and many of them will become permanent possessions 
of a new world which will discover that these young 
writers have spoken in free and varied forms the deepest 
message of this urgent generation. 

The great experience through which we have passed 
has also added a new sense of reaHty and worth to our 
appreciation of the Bible. It, too, was born from 
fierce and long struggle; it is amazing how much of the 
temper of the war and of the constructive purpose fol- 
lowing it is reflected in the Scriptures. 

To define the great subjects that have been thrust 
forward during the last five years, to show how the 
vital documents of the new literature bear upon them, 
and chiefly to bring the Bible into use as a source of 
text and subject and illustration is the purpose of this 
volume. 

The writer has ventured to offer practical suggestions 
concerning the use of texts and illustrative material. 
This is designed to be only in the way of suggestion. 



vi Preface 

The horror of "canned outlines" of sermons or garlands 
of poetic gems for illustration is unspeakable. The 
suggestions offered are simply examples of a profitable 
way to work the rich mine of biblical and recent litera- 
ture. No plagiarism would be involved in using them; 
but they are presented to stimulate study rather than 
to stifle it. 

The writer is a preacher. He knows the hardship 
and the splendor of the task. These pages have been 
written in a temper of grateful regard for the high quality 
of the American ministry and a resolute devotion to the 
work of preaching. He now sends the book forth to 
his comrades with the earnest hope that it may help 
somewhat in making the old message of the gospel 
vibrant with new meaning and power to a confused and 
yearning age. 

Chicago Theological Seminary 
January i, 1919 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. New Conditions Defining the Preacher's Task i 

II. The Influence of the Modern Pulpit .... 17 

III. The Moral Aims of the New Era 34 

IV. Where to Find the Sermon Stuff ..... 48 
V. Preaching Patriotism 60 ^ 

VI. The Worth of Humanity 78 * 

VII. "The Everlasting Reality OF Religion" . . . 88 * 

VIII. God the Father: His Love and Care . . . . 117 » 

IX. Christ the Lord 135 . 

X. Sin and Forgiveness 150 » 

XL Death, Comfort, and Immortality 171 ' 

XII. Prayer 187 ♦ 

XIII. International Convictions and Conscience . . 199 , 

Index 217 



CHAPTER I 
NEW CONDITIONS DEFINING THE PREACHER'S TASK 

Every Christian preacher is facing the most exigent 
and commanding situation of human history in these 
days when the world is simply being re-made through 
the results of the Great War. Never was there such 
need of the clear mind and the flaming soul in the pulpits 
of America. Today the preacher may come to his 
throne, but he never will arrive there by accident or 
without preparation adequate to the service that he must 
render. 

But in what spirit is he to preach? What is his 
distinctive message? How is he to prepare for and 
discharge his task ? These questions surge to the center 
of our thought. New problems, vaster in their range 
and deeper in their drive than have ever before demanded 
solution, are upon us. The minister must be prepared 
to create and guide pubHc opinion. How profound these 
changes are is indicated by the following observation 
from a man who has traveled widely and observed 
carefully: 

Is a new theology, determined by democracy, to emerge from 
this war? May we look to the consensus of popular opinion, 
instead of to the theologians, for our great ideas about God 
and the soxil and the future life ? 

There are clear signs pointiag that way. For .... a really 
startling radicalism pervades the thinking of the armies, and of the 
chaplains and of Young Men's Christian Association workers 
who have been long with the troops. Conventions have lost their 



2 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

grip. Nobody cares a cootie for "orthodoxy," as such. Old 
usages and old creeds seem to have succumbed to the U-boats, 
or some other force, on the way over. All things, from the very 
existence of a Supreme Being to the right of a church to exist, 
have had to face the challenge of this new, emancipated, free- 
thinking, audacious war mind. Whether this is as it should be 
or not, I am not here discussing: this article is not a statement 
of the writer's opinions, but of clearly revealed conditions. 
Churches and seminaries and religious institutions at home 
do not realize it, but they, too, are in the melting pot that is 
bubbling in France.^ 

Another statement of the changing present and the 
future task of humanity in building a new world comes 
from one of the most valuable books produced by the 
war, whose author says: 

With brains and hearts clean now of all terror, grief-purged 
men and women everyis^'here are rising from this devastation 
with a wondering respect for the resilience of the hiunan soul, 
and with a great instinct toward rebuilding driving them on into 
the new future. Evolution teaches that survival depends on the 
power of adaptation to environment; is not the effort of each 
nation to reconstruct this destruction constant evidence of the vast 
impulse of the human race to discover an adjustment of life to 
death that shaU make for endurance rather than decay ?^ 

Still a third statement deserves consideration here. 
Speaking at the centennial of Auburn Theological 
Seminary, October lo, 1918, Secretary of State Robert 
Lansing said: 

The principles upon which a general peace will be made 
between the warring nations have been clearly stated by Presi- 
dent Wilson. These principles of justice must guide those charged 
with the negotiation of the great treaty of peace, and must find 

^William T. Ellis, The New Theology of the Trenches. 
2 Winifred Kirkland, The New Death (1918), p. 53. Copyright by 
Houghton Mifflin Co., publishers. 



New Conditions of the Preacher's Task 3 

expression in that momentous document which will lay the foun- 
dation for a world transformed. 

Thoughtful men must know that the peace which is to come 
will not be a lasting peace if its terms are written in anger or if 
revenge rather than the desire for strict justice and the common 
good is the underlying motive of those who are charged with the 
grave responsibility of drafting the greatest treaty which this 
world has ever known. 

The new era born in blood and fire on the battlefields of Europe 
must be a Christian era in reality and not alone in name. The 
years to come must be years of fraternity and common purpose. 
International injustice must cease. All men must be free from 
the oppression of arbitrary power. Unreasoning class hatreds 
and class tyrannies must come to an end. Society must be organ- 
ized on principles of justice and liberty. The world must be 
ruled by the dominant will to do what is right. 

No preacher can read this noble statement of the 
American Secretary of State without a kindling heart. 
Here is the ringing voice of the old prophets; here is 
the doctrine of the Kingdom of God as Jesus taught it; 
here is subject-matter for preaching that ought to thrill 
every Christian congregation through the length of the 
land. 

The whole order of human life has been shaken to 
its foundations and, after peace is established, there will 
remain a problem and duty greater than humanity 
ever has faced before even in its most critical and 
difl&cult periods of history. The world must be re-made 
in order that the issues of the war may be turned into 
beneficent forms. 

Our present uncertainty is not concerning the fact 
of this task, but rather as to what the particular prob- 
lems will be and how they are to be attacked and solved. 
No one is able to forecast the hnes along which the world 



4 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

is to be "remolded nearer to the heart's desire." As a 
recent writer says: 

Conjectures multiply as to the character of the new era, 
but that there wiU be a new era is beyond conjecture — a new set 
of living conditions, a new scale of values, a new alignment of 
social elements, a new arrangement of human relationships, 
a new basis of international life/ 

Dr. Fosdick states the same conviction as follows: 
We are challenged by this war to a renovation of our popular 
Christianity, to a deep and unrelenting detestation of the little 
bigotries, the needless divisions, the petty obscurantisms that 
so deeply curse our churches, to a new experience and more in- 
telligent expression of vital fellowship with God. Unless we can 
answer that challenge, there is small use in our trying to answer 
any other. We must have a great religion to meet a great need.^ 

Scarcely had the tumult and the shouting that 
followed the signing of the armistice died away before 
many voices were heard, not only defining the new 
tasks before the world, but warning the American 
people against remitting their devoted championship 
of the ideals of democracy. Among these the following 
editorial from the Chicago Evening Post of November 
13, 1918, is an example: 

Building a New World 

For four years our minds have been fiUed with tales of suffering 
and destruction. In imagination, gazing at Europe, we have seen 
a picture of violence, flame, blood, and ruin. The world has been 
distraught, agonized, and superheated in emotion. 

And now we must try to look at the world from a new stand- 
point. We must try to think of it in other terms. 

^Murray, The Call of a World Task, p. i. 

= Fosdick, The Challenge of the Present Crisis, p. 82. Copyright by 
the Association Press, publishers. 



New Conditions of the Preacher^s Task 5 

If the victory we have won means anything, it means that the 
world has been cleansed and cleared of much that poisoned and 
encumbered in order that it may be built anew after a better 
fashion. 

Imagination is wearied with trying to grasp the horror of the 
conflict through which we have passed and from which we are 
emerging. Thus tired, it may be slow to grasp the possibilities 
of the new era that dawns. And yet the great need is for con- 
structive imagination now. 

Everywhere it is important that men and women turn their 
thoughts to the work of rebuilding and bring to the tasks that 
await them the lessons that have been learned in bitterness of 
soul. 

War has brought us together. It brought all classes together 
in the lands that fought for freedom. It broke down barriers 
of caste and economic difference. It gave us a common experience 
in suffering and a common impulse for service. 

War taught us to give and to submit to taxation cheerfully 
for the common cause. It bred in us a spirit of sacrifice, a will- 
ingness to subordinate the individual right to the general good. 

War made us generous spenders on public enterprise — for the 
defense of the nation and the achievement of its ideals were a 
pubUc enterprise. We did not stint. Whatever was needed 
that was done, without considering cost. 

War promoted co-operation among nations that had been 
keen rivals and distrustful rivals. It taught us the worth and the 
fineness of people who spoke other tongues than ours and lived in 
other climes. We realized that brotherhood was more than a 
word on the lips of the orator — it was a practical, a very practical, 
possibility. 

We made of war a great emergency that discounted every- 
thing else, and because of that we gained the victory. 

Are the problems that victory and peace will bring us any less 
emergent and less vital to the freedom and happiness of mankind 
than those that our armies solved on the fields of battle and our 
civilians solved in the trenches of commerce, industry, and pub- 
lic effort ? 

Surely they are not. 



6 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

The fact is that unless we meet these problems with the same 
spirit of serious determination that has marked democracy in its 
struggle with the enemy we cannot win from the war the full 
measure of what victory should mean. Unless we are prepared 
to carry into the days ahead the same consciousness of a common 
service that obHterates lines of class and creed and race; the same 
readiness to give and to sacrifice; the same willingness to spend 
largely and wisely for the general good, we are going to make the 
graves in France and Flanders unavailing, we are going to miss 
the goal of human betterment for which the paths have been 
opened at the cost of blood. 

BuUding a new world must grip imagination and enUst effort 
as splendidly as did the pulling down of autocracy and the wiping 
out of oppression. The world wiU not build itself, nor will it 
be built well if we backsUde into the old selfishness, the old 
blind individualism, the old narrow nationaHsm that obtained 
in all countries to a largely controlling degree four years ago. 

The man who breathes easily and says, "Now we can return 
to our former ways. Things can go on as before," is a traitor 
to his time and to the men who gave their lives in order that things 
might be changed. Things must not go on as before. Democracy 
has wrested the world from the clutches of the last of the auto- 
crats, and democracy must now prove that it can make a better 
world than that of which "kultur" dreamed. That is our task. 
It is big enough and fine enough to inspire the best that is in 
America and in her great comrades of the allies overseas. 

What is to furnish the energy for this constructive 
work ? What is the general Hne of development which 
it is to follow ? It has been said that we can no longer 
look confidently to Christianity for help because it did 
not prove itself strong enough to prevent the Great War, 
That, however, is not a fair verdict. The Great War 
came because there was not enough of the real reHgion 
of Jesus in the world; Christianity never had been tried. 
The Christian religion has not been discredited by the 
Great War; it has not collapsed. Christianity will be 



New Conditions of the Preacher's Task 7 

the primary source of creative energy in the new world. 
The ideal of the Kingdom of God is still the goal ahead 
of the race. There is power enough in the Christian 
ideal to make the world over. 

It has been said that the ministers did not prove them- 
selves able to be the moral and spiritual leaders of the 
community in the period of the Great War; when 
community action was demanded to safeguard the high- 
est interests of the nation, the business men and the 
newspaper men were the leaders to whom the people 
turned. A study of the records will set this criticism at 
rest. Of course the ministers and churches were not the 
exclusive leaders of pubHc opinion or civic action in 
the time of the Great War. The share that they 
took in the final action of the nation was not so sig- 
nificant as it was, for example, in the early history of 
the New England colonies, when the principles taught 
by John Cotton and the measures advised in his pulpit 
on Sunday were said to have been promptly enacted 
into law by the General Court during the following week. 
On the other hand, no other institution and no other body 
of men has contributed a larger measure of influence to 
the inspiration and guidance of public opinion during the 
Great War than the ministers and the churches. The 
uses to which the churches have been put, the sermons 
preached which shaped public opinion concerning the 
moral and spiritual aims of the war, the services 
rendered to the nation by the ministers themselves — 
all these are the proof of the proposition that the Chris- 
tian rehgion as represented in the churches of America 
has been the most powerful single factor in the guidance 
of the nation during its great struggle. 



8 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

Now we may confidently look to the same sources 
for inspiration and guidance during the era of rebuilding 
that is upon us. Ministers and church leaders must see 
the duty before them and address themselves to the task 
of continuing to hold up the standards of truth and 
justice toward which the nation must work its way. 
Earnest thought must be given to this work. As 
Robert E. Speer has said: 

What we are living through now is the fruitage of the long 
past and we are sowing today for our children's reaping tomorrow. 
In this view, if men do not prepare in advance for the solution 
of their problems it is too late to prepare when the time for the 
solution arrives. The forces of good which are to cope with the 
forces of evil must be developed contemporaneously with them. 
This is the comfort of our faith in God.^ 

The gospel has an essential function to perform in the 
making of the new world. The message and mission of 
Jesus are by no means exhausted in their reference to the 
inidividual. Christianity is meant for industry and 
society and poHtics. It will be impossible to apply it 
to these vast and bewildering problems unless we our- 
selves have the large and noble conception of it which is 
fundamentally necessary. The vision of a Christianity 
large enough to perform its function in the great world 
must be vivid in the preacher's mind; then he will begin 
to bring his message to an age re-made by war. 

The definition of that greater religion which we 
must have in order to meet the greater needs of the world 
that is to emerge from the welter of war is found in 
Christ. The preacher must ask, What did the religion 
of Jesus mean to him personally? When we answer 

' The Christian Man, the Church and the War, p. 66. Copyright by 
the Macmillan Co., publishers. 



New Conditions of the Preacher's Task g 

that question we discover what it may mean to us and to 
our generation. The point has been summed up well 
by Fosdick: 

The Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, the friend- 
ship of the Spirit, the inexorableness of the moral law, the 
supremacy of the Cross, the campaign for the Kingdom, the Ufa 
eternal — what weight and range must the words have that try 
to tell what his faith meant to him!^ 

We return therefore to the task of preaching as an 
essential and paramount factor in the work of re-making 
the world. Christianity has been extended and main- 
tained in the past by preaching; it will continue to de- 
pend upon the same power. It is by the oral delivery 
of a message, day after day and year after year, in count- 
less tongues and varied forms that the truths and the 
spirit of Christianity have been spread over the world. 
There are other ways, to be sure, in which the religion 
of Christ has been extended; but preaching is the chief, 
the enduring, method. And the changes wrought by the 
war are apparently not to make preaching less necessary 
and vital but rather more. 

Criticism of preaching is nothing new. Preaching has 
been called foolishness; and sometimes it has been fool- 
ish. But in spite of this, it is through the power of 
this ancient business that the Christian gospel has been 
made known. And the task of preaching has outlived 
all the wise words of those who have disparaged it; 
indeed, it has often been called into action to preach the 
funeral sermon of the critic himself. Thus it seems 
even now to be entering into a new era of privilege and 
power instead of passing as a waning interest. 

^ The Challenge of the Present Crisis, p. 84. Copyright by the 
Association Press, publishers. 



10 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

The act of preaching is a complex and difficult 
matter under the easiest conditions. Many forces enter 
into it; the factors composing it are often difficult to 
untangle. There is the truth to be proclaimed. If 
this were simply to be elaborated out of a perfectly 
clear and infallible statement, preaching would not be 
a very perplexing task, as it surely would not be a 
rewarding or stimulating one. But the truth that the 
preacher is to proclaim, in all the depth and range of it, 
can be discovered only at the cost of intense search and 
patient thinking. Then there is the personality of the 
preacher, the medium through which the truth is trans- 
mitted in oral form. This is as varied, even under the 
most favorable circumstances, as personality itself is 
varied. Real preparation for preaching is nothing less 
than the preparation of the whole man. The final means 
by which the truth gets itself expressed is the refined and 
kindled soul of the man in the pulpit. Then there is the 
congregation, that limiting audience, whose every mood 
conditions the extent to which the truth, granted that 
it has been accurately transmitted through the per- 
sonality of the preacher, influences the life of those who 
hear the message. Jesus expressed this principle in the 
famiHar parable of the Sower, or, as it would be better 
called, the parable of the Soils, to enforce the command, 
"Take heed how ye hear. " For the truth must do busi- 
ness with the persons who hear the sermon; but what it 
can do will be determined by the receptive audience. 

Thus we must reckon with the real world in which 
the preacher and the congregation five. It is full of 
hard work and moral perplexity and spiritual struggle. 
The sermon is not meant for the ideal conditions of a 



New Conditions of the Preacher's Task ii 

dream-world, but for this earnest and terrible present 
year on our planet. It engages with the practical prob- 
lems of living men, not with hypothetical angels in some 
glad somewhere. This conditions not only the method 
and message of the preacher but also the mood and re- 
sponse of the hearer. It is out of the practical surround- 
ings of the listening congregation that the most forceful 
influences emerge to determine the issues of the sermon. 
That Sunday sermon, upon which the preacher may have 
toiled until he sweat blood, will miss its mark if it does 
not throb with the pulse of reaHty and appreciation of 
the actual world for which it is intended. 

Therefore it is obvious that all effective preaching 
must reckon carefully with the age in which the preacher 
gives his message to his congregation. This is not the 
supreme item, but it is one of the most significant fac- 
tors determining the power and permanence of the 
preacher's work. Spiritual discernment and deep con- 
viction are more significant; but in order that preaching 
may be sure-footed it must rest on clear insight into the 
meaning of the age. Otherwise it will fumble at the 
moment when the world is expectant with interest and 
when the issues of the greatest experience of humanity 
since history began to be written depend upon the clear 
vision and the accurate word of the Christian preachers. 

That the character of preaching must be changed in 
some way ought not to cause dismay to any thoughtful 
minister. Of course, if preaching is merely the exposi- 
tion of a system of infalHble doctrine, it is less easy to 
accept the situation than it is if preaching is regarded as 
the setting forth of truth that is ever running over its 
old boundaries and bursting its ancient bottles. 



12 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

That preaching would be changed as a result of the 
Great War the young French student, Alfred Eugene 
Casalis, affirmed in these passionate words: 

First, there will be our preaching to change. All that consists 
in empty formulas, beautiful as they may be, powerfully as they 
may have contributed to nourish souls; aU the formulas which are 
today empty because our philosophic or religious thought, our 
experiences or our conception of life have outgrown them or caused 
them to burst their frames — all such formulas must disappear. 
And what we shall substitute for them as our statement of faith 
will not be less great, not less beautiful, not less true, if we search 
for it in the depths of souls in union with God. And it will not be 
less Christian, for the Spirit of Christ is a spirit which lives, which 
develops — never remaining for a moment in any fixed form.^ 

The significant words in this statement are "souls 
in union with God. " That, after all, was the purpose 
which called all the formulas into being; and we need 
have no fear of final loss if the creative energies behind 
the formulas are saved. The creeds have served their 
purpose well in the history of the spirit; they will always 
be needed. But it is the vital force that creates the 
creed; it is the experience that renews the formal ex- 
pression of faith; and out of the Great War is surely 
coming the old experience of souls in union with God, 
which is the eternal fact in religion. 

Therefore we need not fear changes either in the 
substance or in the form of preaching so long as its 
essential message is preserved. And all who understand 
the meaning of the War as it has been interpreted to us 
by the religious leaders out of the midst of it are ready 
to meet the changes without dread and with a clear idea 
of what must be done in the process of readjustment. 

^For France and the Faith, p. 79. Copyright by the Association 
Press, publishers. 



New Conditions of the Preacher's Task 13 

The fear has been expressed that preaching in such 
an age will lack opportunity. The very fact that the 
minds of men are so engrossed with the tasks of physical 
building has been supposed to make well-nigh impossible 
the declaration of great spiritual truths. 

But quite the contrary is the fact. It is in the midst 
of a generation solemnized by the tremendous experi- 
ences of such a conflict that the profoundest truths 
have the field which they require for expression. In an 
age that is smitten with poignant grief and stirred to 
expressions of terrible wrath preaching finds its supreme 
opportunity. 

This has been put concisely by A. Conan Doyle in 
the following words: "It is, however, when the human 
soul is ploughed and harrowed by suffering that the seeds 
of truth may be planted, and so some future spiritual 
harvest will surely rise from the days in which we live. "^ 

Thus instead of limiting the true function of the 
preacher the Great War simply opened the doors of 
opportunity to him, affording such privilege as he never 
has had before to bring the Christian message home to 
the hearts of men. 

The question is often asked. Will there be such 
changes in the form and subjects of preaching as a result 
of the war that we can no longer expect results from the 
methods that have been successful before ? The changes 
which we anticipate in this respect are not radical. The 
Christian message always has been spoken home to the 
heart of humanity with the tender and persuasive 
accents of love and testimony. This will not be changed 
in times of peace, as it was not changed during the War. 

'"The New Revelation," Metropolitan Magazine, January, 1918. 



14 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

Donald Hankey, writing concerning his own methods 
of presenting the message of Christ, said: 

When I was talking to them [the soldiers] at these services 
I always used to try and make them feel that Christ was the 
fulfilment of all the best things that they admired, that he was 
their natural hero. I would tell them some stories of heroism and 
meanness contrasted, of courage and cowardice, of noble forgive- 
ness and vile cruelty, and so get them on the side of the angels. 
Then I would try and spring it upon them that Christ was the 
Lord of the heroes and the brave men and the noble men, and that 
he was fighting against all that was mean and cruel and cowardly, 
and that it was up to them to take their stand by his side if they 
wanted to make the world a little better instead of a little worse, 
and I would try to show them how in little practical ways in their 
homes and at their work and in the club they could do their bit 
for Christ.^ 

All this sounds strangely unlike the formal rules for 
preaching which have been systematized in the science 
of homiletics. But the permanent principles of preach- 
ing are all here. There is the old consciousness of the 
message to be given, the adapting of the message to the 
mind of the hearer and the world in which it is to be 
wrought out into rules for Hfe, and the appeal for such 
decisions as wUl make the truth vital. 

As we sum up the influence of the new conditions 
upon the work of the preacher we are assured that the 
task of re-making the world is going to bring the pulpit 
its supreme opportunity instead of robbing the preacher 
of his privilege and power. Certainly the great assur- 
ances and comforts of religion never were more necessary 
than they are now. There never was greater need of 
inspiration and hope, which are peculiarly the gift of the 

^A Student in Arms, Series 2, p, 156. Copyright by E. P. Button 
& Co., publishers. 



New Conditions of the Preacher'' s Task 15 

preacher to the community. Ethical direction never was 
more necessary to sound community Hfe; and this comes 
especially from the pulpit. The war has given new war- 
rant to the fact of personal leadership; and the true 
preacher is trained in the spirit of service. And thus we 
are justified in looking into the future with the greatest 
confidence, expecting that the man with the prophetic 
message and the loving heart will be able to preach as he 
never has been able to do since the first glowing tongues 
kindled the lips of the Christian heralds at Pentecost. 

Suggestions for Sermons on Post-Bellum Tasks 

suggestion i 

"And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, 
did Joshua set up in Gilgal" (Josh. 4:20). 

OLD HARDSHIPS AND NEW JOYS 

I. The stones in the bed of Jordan. They represent old diffi- 
culties overcome by divine assistance. Human suffering 
made victorious by the grace of God. 
II. The stones in the altar at Gilgal. They represent new 
privileges attained by God's help. And they are the very 
same stones. The lessons learned in the war are to become 
the essential factors in the new laws by which we re-make 
the world according to God's will. 

SUGGESTION 2 

"From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer 
burnt offerings unto Jehovah; but the foimdation of the temple 
of Jehovah was not yet laid" (Ezra 3:6.) 

CONSECRATING THE INCOMPLETE 

I. The foundations were not yet laid. But the dream of a 
temple was in the minds of the people. They did not know 
how it would look; but they were determined that it should 



1 6 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

rise. So there is a new world-order in the minds of the 
best men everywhere. Just what it will be or how it will work 
out they do not know. But they are determined that it 
shall be realized. 
II. But the place was consecrated to God. The temporary 
altar was set up and the spot was hallowed by worship. Chris- 
tian leaders must pre-empt and consecrate the unrealized 
institutions of the new world. God must be first; he belongs 
there. 

SUGGESTION 3 

"And the glowing sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty- 
ground springs of water: in the habitation of jackals, where 
they lay, shall be grass, with reeds and rushes" (Isa. 35:7). 

TRANSFORMED 

I. The abomination of desolation. Study the significance of 
the three figures to indicate the havoc wrought by the war: 
glowing sand; thirsty ground; lair of jackals. 
II. The beauty of restoration. Now study the contrasted figures 
to show the beauty of the new world in the making: a pool; 
springs of water; grass with reeds and rushes. 
Our task is to accomplish this change. 

SUGGESTION 4 

"Doth he that ploweth to sow plow continually? doth he 
continually open and harrow his ground ? when he hath levelled 
the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter 
the cummin, and put in the wheat in rows, and the spelt in the 
border thereof?" (Isa. 28:24, 25). 

GOD TAKES TIME 

We shall be impatient to see the new world made in a day. 
Like child-gardeners, we shall want to dig up our seeds daily to 
see if they are sprouting and growing. We must learn the secret 
of the divine patience. Theodore Parker said, "The trouble 
seems to be that I am in a hurry and God is not. " Wise Christian 
leaders wiU know that "he that believeth shall not make haste." 



CHAPTER II 
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MODERN PULPIT 

When the war began, criticism of preaching had been 
for a long time current. It was commonly said that the 
pulpit had lost its power and that preaching was played 
out. It may as well be admitted frankly that there 
was some fair warrant for this judgment. 

In the first place, the increase in the complex duties 
of the minister has tended steadily to crowd preaching 
out of its place of primary importance. The demand for 
efficient administration and for all sorts of social service 
has made it well-nigh impossible for a minister to find 
the time for study and sermon preparation that the 
relatively simple demands of a former generation per- 
mitted. Men have therefore allowed their time and 
strength to be consumed in the doing of all sorts of 
administrative work to the neglect of their preaching. 

Again, it is fair to state that there has been a decided 
loss of the sense of message from modern preaching. 
The argument and the essay and the descriptive pres- 
entation of social situations have intruded upon the 
message which was originally given with the fire of 
deep conviction straight from the preacher's flaming 
soul. Our preachers have not been great and positive 
in heralding the truth to the very heart of the generation. 
The old flame of the prophets and the missioners has 
burned low. The torch of the teacher and educator 
has taken its place with imperfect success, 

17 



1 8 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

This is not to disparage the work of religious educa- 
tion and the task of the teacher-preacher. But it is to 
assert that nothing ever has taken the place of the ardent 
message which is good news still. There has been much 
sorrow expressed because the church has seemed to 
lose its worshipers. But there is something far worse 
than to lose the crowd; it is loss beyond remedy when the 
church loses its message. ''Message" is a word often 
misused; but it is one of the great words nevertheless. 
The preacher is the messenger and his sermon is a mes- 
sage. Nothing less than this will answer for preaching 
in this generation. 

But the criticism against the preachers has been too 
severe. Neither the churches nor their leaders have 
failed to the extent that is claimed by the critics. We 
see this in the way in which the hearts of the people 
turn again to the institutions and the message of the 
Christian religion when the days are dark. So we face 
the future full of courage. The preacher will yet come 
into his own, and preaching is not played out; it is just 
entering upon a new expression of power. 

The way in which the churches and ministers have 

behaved has earned for them a better judgment and a 

kinder consideration. The prevalent criticism is put 

by Donald Hankey as follows: 

The clergy are out of touch with the laity. They do not as a 
rule understand the real difficulties and temptations of the ordi- 
nary man. The sin against which they preach is sin as defined 
in the theological college, a sort of pale, lifeless shadow of the real 
thing. The virtue which they extol is equally a ghost of the real, 
generous, vital love of good which is the only thing that is of any 
use in the everyday working life of the actual man.^ 

M Student in Arms, Series i, p. 198. Copyright by E. P. Button 
& Co., publishers. 



The Influence of the Modern Pulpit 19 

But the ministers have entered the service of the 
country and have taken up the work of safeguarding 
the moral life of the soldiers in such sacrificial ways as 
prove that their ideals at least are right, even if they 
have not understood as fully as they might the conditions 
under which the average man lives and works. And 
in the camps and trenches the chaplains have shown 
that they are made of the right stuff. They have 
shared the hardships and dangers of the men; they have 
been with them in the supreme moments of life; they 
have vindicated the old ideals of the ministry which were 
supposed to have been lost or to have fallen on evil days. 

On the table at which these sentences are being 
written lies the picture of a young chaplain with the 
account of his death in action with his regiment in France. 
Rev. Harry Deiman was pastor of the First Congre- 
gational Church in Minneapolis, thoroughly trained for 
his work, alert in mind, clean and strong in body, 
resolute in will, and dauntless in spirit. He left his wife 
and young child for the service of his country and paid 
the last full measure of devotion gallantly. 

This is the account that our young college and semi- 
nary men have given of themselves. It is enough 
to rebuke any flippant judgment that the former days 
were better than these or that our men had ceased to 
thrill to the call of duty and answer her imperial summons 
with their lives. This young chaplain was one of the 
most gifted and versatile of men. His eager mind 
never ceased its quest for truth. His sympathies were 
broad and his life was "clean as river sand." 

The influence of such men must bring into being a 
still higher type of minister. Not only those who have 



20 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

gone overseas and sacrificed health and life, but the men 
who have remained at home caring for the morale of 
communities, have shown that the American ministry- 
had not fallen on evil days as the critics were so eager 
to assure us. 

Donald Hankey discovered this, and out of his 
experience he wrote : 

Indications are not wanting that the present crisis may 
evolve teachers of a new kind in the ranks of the clerg)' and the 
professors. Many clergy have enlisted in noncombatant corps, 
and must there have gained a much deeper sense of the needs of 
ordinary men than they ever acquired in the university, the clergy 
school, and the parish. Some of the younger dons have also 
plunged into life, and they may be expected to produce literature 
of a new type when they return to their studies.^ 

Every preacher ought to be thinking carefully about 
the final influence that the Great War is going to have on 
his life and his message. Time after time he ought to 
reflect carefully on the spiritual significance of the mighty 
conflict as it continues to transform his own point of 
view and the practical use to which he puts his talents. 
This will be a part of the devotional culture of the min- 
ister in these times of change. Is his message becoming 
more vital and real? Is the urgency of preaching in- 
creasing? Is there a sense of the power of religion in 
our words that was not there before ? With such ques- 
tions as these it will be possible to make the spiritual 
significance of the war a part of the increased equip- 
ment of the preacher. 

Let us now consider how the modern preacher, thus 
enlarged in his ideals concerning his own task, is to 

M Student in Arms, Series i, p. 183. Copyright by E. P. Button 
& Co., publishers. 



The Influence of the Modern Pulpit 21 

serve the community in ways which were not apparent 
before the Great War. 

Thousands of ministers have been obliged to decide 
that they would remain at home, carry on the work of 
the pulpit and parish, and render service necessary to 
the highest welfare of the neighborhood and nation 
in the familiar place and through the accepted methods 
of church work. In countless cases it would have been 
easier to have gone into camp and trench. The call 
of romance was there; the spirit of adventure lured every 
manly soul to the great conflict across the sea. There 
are no bugles blowing for those who "keep the home 
fires burning," and for a generation the man who won 
a cross of some kind somewhere will have the right of 
eminent appeal to the popular mind. 

This was altogether a minor consideration to the man 
who settled the question of the place and character of 
the service that he would render in the war, yet it is not 
without significance and must be reckoned with in the 
factors that determine how we shall preach. The im- 
portant matter for all ministers is that, whether they 
went abroad or stayed at home, they all shall interpret 
their work in larger terms and derive from the world- 
situation new energy and courage for an enlarged service. 
All who ''stay by the stuff" must get some adequate 
discipline out of the experience that shall be commen- 
surate with that which has been coming to the chaplains 
and the men in service overseas. The peril of the min- 
ister in America just now is that he will catch no new 
vision of what it really means to he a preacher and pastor. 
The conditions under which the chaplains and other 
Christian workers overseas or in the camps at home 



22 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

worked have evolved new standards for preaching which 
will in time seep into the practice of the remotest 
country pulpit. The men who are meeting this situation 
know the keen joy of actually taking part in the recon- 
struction of the methods of preaching. 

But in the home parish the external conditions still 
remain much as they were before the war began. Many 
young men are yet missing; there are new industrial 
problems to be faced; but the old church, the old serv- 
ices, the familiar families are all there, and the vast 
changes are still very far away. This tends to cause the 
minister who stayed at home to settle back into the 
familiar ways, preach about as he used to, make his 
calls in the easy round, and live in the old routine. 

This means plain suicide in the modern church. 
Since 19 14 the world has changed. We still dress about 
as we used to and continue to growl about life's little 
irritations. A man in the lounging-room of his club 
will still display such lack of perspective and proportion 
as permits him to interrupt the reading of international 
needs and poHcies with a peeved complaint at the quality 
of the bread served him at lunch. But still we do not 
think as we did four years ago and we never shall again. 
Our scale of values has been entirely upset. Conven- 
tional standards are broken up, and yet in the midst of 
all this it is perfectly possible for a minister to perform 
the established functions, go through the old motions, 
and "last" for some time in the midst of a patient 
parish not yet fully awake itself. The momentum 
of venerable methods picks up such a satisfied minister 
and bears him onward Hke a mummy on the Nile at 
flood. It is a fearful fact. A minister in the United 



The Influence of the Modern Pulpit 23 

States today may be so busy doing fussy jobs and may so 
persuade himself that he is useful and necessary to the 
community that he may become blind as a mole to what 
is going on in the world around him. He sometimes 
knows the period of the Nicene Council better than he 
knows what has happened in Russia since the war 
began. 

Ministers must wake up and get superbly alive now 
or they are lost. They must read and reason and decide 
critical questions. There is something bigger than 
chickens and parish favors lurking around the par- 
sonages of the land. Ministers must feel the movements 
of the age and evaluate the changes that are taking 
place in the world around them. This is the common 
obligation that rests upon them, whether they have gone 
into distinct national and Christian service abroad or 
have made their equally important contribution to the 
highest welfare of the nation while remaining at home. 

How can this be done ? The continued responsibili- 
ties of the parish must be met with service that involves 
all the resources at the command of the minister. Ser- 
mons, visits, weddings, funerals, occasional addresses, 
community tasks — these have not been remitted by the 
War. They must be attended to, for they constitute 
the old task. We have no more time at our command; 
there is only the strength of the average man to be used 
in the work. But there are better tools at hand, and the 
time and strength at our disposal may be more economi- 
cally used. The preacher must now dispose of his 
energies in a better way. Time must be made for read- 
ing, for serious thinking, for painstaking sermon prep- 
aration. These are dangerous days for the man who 



24 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

is fluent in speech and can easUy get away with a pub- 
lic address. As Dr. Crothers remarks, the instructions 
that accompany a fountain pen are appropriate to these 
ready speakers, "When this pen tends to flow too freely, 
it is a sign that it needs filling. " 

Almost anyone can consume the time set apart for 
the sermon in the order of public worship; too few men 
can really preach a clarifying, moving, and convincing 
sermon that shall set confused minds straight and bring 
them to great decisions. But this is the kind of preach- 
ing that we must have if the Christian church is to serve 
the present generation in the place of its supreme 
need. When a layman is forced to say, "I couldn't 
make head or tail out of it, " in nine cases out of ten the 
difficulty is not with the head of the layman, but with 
the heads of the discourse. The sermon had neither 
head nor tail nor body, and — what is worse — it had no 
neck. The preachers of tomorrow must work as they 
never worked before. They cannot run errands or 
attend functions so extensively if they are to be God's 
prophets to a perplexed world. 

The preacher never has been given a greater privilege 
than this. It ought to call out the unused energies of 
mind and spirit to a nobler service than ever has been 
rendered by the pulpit. It is the same call that the 
nation sent forth to its young men to defend its Hberties, 
and it ought to be answered in the spirit with which the 
soldiers sailed for France. 

The service of the preacher as a creator of pubhc 
opinion cannot be overestimated in the modern age. 
In the churches gather the people who are representa- 
tive of the highest ideals and the noblest living. Sunday 



The Influence of the Modern Pulpit 25 

after Sunday the preacher has the privilege of speaking 

to them on the supreme subjects that can engage the 

mind and stir the emotions. It may seem at first glance 

as if he had scant opportunity to do any creative work 

in the precious "thirty minutes to raise the dead"; 

but the value of these times of quickening, if they are 

rightly used, is great beyond our present realization. 

And it is not the great churches in the cities alone 

where this influence is felt most significantly. This has 

been put by Arthur Gleason in one of the timely books 

of the war: 

What one cares very much to reach is the solid, silent public 
opinion of the smaller cities, the towns, and villages. The local 
storekeeper, the village doctor, the farmer, these are the men 
who make the real America — the America which responds slowly 
but irresistibly to a sound presentation of facts. The alert news- 
paper editor, the hustling real-estate man, the booster for a better- 
planned town, these citizens shape our public opinion. If once 
our loyal Middle Westerners know the wrong that has been done 
people just like ourselves, they wiU resent it as each of us resents 
it that has seen it.' 

That which Mr. Gleason discerns here so accurately 
appHes to the work of the preacher. It is in the Httle 
towns and among the scattered communities that the 
influences must be set in motion that are finally to carry 
the nation as a whole forward or backward in its policy 
and program. What New York City thinks is impor- 
tant; but what the villages of the whole country think 
is the final fact that determines the poHcy of the nation. 
What the small community thinks is determined in so 
sHght degree by what the pulpit in that community 
stands for week by week. 

^Our Part in the Great War, p. 275. Copyright by Frederick A. 
Stokes Co., publishers. 



26 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

If ever there was a call for ministers who are enlight- 
ened on matters of international moment it is now. If 
there is a preacher anywhere who is contented in these 
earnest days to go on saying the same old words, going 
through the same old motions, it would seem as if 
he had embalmed his own mind and soul. Here is our 
civilization faced with the most searching questions and 
exigent problems of history; here is the church, even in 
the smallest community, charged with the sacred and 
solemn responsibility of creating the ideals that will 
guide the nation through the re-making of the world; 
and now and again we meet a minister who seeks to 
interpret his task as that of watching the rival denomi- 
nation on the other corner and saying over, like a weari- 
some parrot, the old phrases that the fathers wore out 
and that the present generation cares nothing about. 
The very spirit of the times calls for a renewal of in- 
tellectual energy and determined utterance that will 
help create in the minds of the people the ideals which 
will bear the country through its time of renewal. It 
takes hard work to measure up to this trust; no minister 
who is inclined to indolence or arrogance can last long 
now. To help create public opinion today is the greatest 
privilege that has ever come to the preacher. 

Again, the modern preacher must be a man who can 
give courage and steadfastness to the people. This was 
one of the chief sources of strength to the prophets. 
The words of Isa. 40 : i are intensely binding today, '' Com- 
fort ye, comfort ye my people, said your God." For 
the world is weary and sad. The cost of this carnage 
has grown beyond all the power of man to estimate, and 
the weight of the burden that rests on the souls of the 



The Influence of the Modern Pulpit 27 

parish is heavier than ever before in the history of the 
world. 

There is only one man in the community who is 
commissioned and prepared to speak the words of com- 
fort and hope that the people crave. He is the preacher. 
His task has been defined in the work of the prophets and 
set forth in the mission of Jesus. When the prophets 
comforted Israel they set the modern preacher an exam- 
ple; when Jesus brought hope and strength to human 
hearts he defined the message of his modern representa- 
tives, the preachers of the good news of comfort. 

But this does not mean that the preacher does not 
face the tragic meaning of the war and understand just 
how terrible is the misery that it has brought. The 
word of hope today must be spoken out of full knowledge 
of the grief that has swept over the world. There is 
a sort of blind optimism that dwells in a fool's paradise 
and cries "peace, peace" when there is no peace. The 
modern preacher does not Hve there, and his message is 
not an irrational assurance couched in idle words. We 
must win the message from the severest wrestling with 
the world-situation at its worst, and must face all the 
facts before seeking to comfort the people. 

Of course this means that we have won firm faith 
in the rightness of our cause, and believe that in the end 
that which is just and good cannot be defeated. These 
are times when the old lines of Browning take on new 
significance. He dared describe himself as 

One who never turned his back but marched breast forward, 
Never doubted clouds would break, never dreamed, though 

right were worsted, wrong would trivunph, 
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, 
Sleep to wake. 



28 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

The literature produced by the war is full of references 
to these sources of courage in the rightness of the cause. 
Richardson Wright puts it in this way: "The invul- 
nerable armor you must wear in these days is an un- 
failing belief in the righteousness of our cause. "^ The 
Bishop of London in a sermon says: "The positive 
comfort is this — God has never allowed deviltry, lust, and 
t3n-anny finally to triumph in His world. "^ 

This means that the same just and true cause which 
has finally triumphed in the Great War can be estab- 
lished in stable institutions, not only in the new, free 
states of Middle Europe and in vast and bewildered 
Russia, but throughout the world. The grounds of this 
faith still rest m the fact that the Lord God Almighty 
reigns in a world that is ultimately moral. 

It is a glorious mission to be such a messenger of 
courage to one's generation. The poets have been 
singing in a way to put heart into the men and 
women who struggle and suffer. Dyneley Hussey has 
expressed this message of courage in one of the war 
sonnets as follows: 

. Alone amid the battle-din untouched 

Stands out one figure beautiful, serene; 
No grime of smoke nor reeking blood hath smutched 

The virgin brow of this unconquered queen. 
She is the Joy of Courage vanquishing 

The unstilled tremors of the fearful heart; 
And it is she that bids the poet sing, 

And gives to each the strength to bear his part. 

* Letters to the Mother of a Soldier, p. 12. Copyright by Frederick 
A. Stokes Co., publishers. 

^Christ and the World at War, p. 135. Copyright by the Pilgrim 
Press, publishers. 



The Influence of the Modern Pulpit 29 

Her eye shall not be dimmed, but as a flame 
Shall light the distant ages with its fire, 

That men may know the glory of her name. 
That purified our souls of fear's desire. 

And she doth cahn our sorrow, soothe our pain 

And she shaU lead us back to peace again. ^ 

Suggestions for Sermons on Comfort and Courage 

suggestion i 

"They help every one his neighbor; and every one saith to 
his brother, Be of good courage" (Isa. 41 : 6). 

COUNSELS OF COURAGE 

Show how we are influenced by the mood and the words of 
our neighbors and comrades. In these days when it is so easy to 
lose heart through perplexity and loss every Christian must 
hearten his friends and neighbors. 

I. Encouragement is often the most practical help that can be 
given. 

II. Encouragement can best be given by those who know and share 
the same lot. 

SUGGESTION 2 

"Be of good courage, and let us play the man for our people, 
and for the cities of our God: and Jehovah do that which seemeth 
him good" (I Chron. 19:13). 

A soldier's faith 
The text expresses three items in the soldier's ideal and faith: 
I. Resolute action. Play the man. The individual counts. 
The martial virtues must be realized. 

II. Representative service. The individual struggles on behalf 
of the people. All brave effort in war or peace is "for our 
people and cities." 

III. Reliance on God. "As God wills it. " This in the end gives 
the courage that lasts. 

^A Treasury of War Poetry, p. 179. Copyright by Houghton 
Mifflin Co., publishers. 



30 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

SUGGESTION 3 

"Be strong and of good courage, be not afraid nor dismayed 
for the King of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him; 
for there is a greater with us than with him: with him is an arm of 
flesh; but with us is Jehovah our God to help us, and to fight our 
battles" (I Chron. 32:7, 8). 

OUTNUMBERED BUT NOT OUTGENERALED 

I. The foe ahead. His resources, commanders, program: 

an arm of flesh. 
II. The resources behind. Our strength, our program, our 

faith: God. 
III. The courageous behavior warranted by these conditions. 

SUGGESTION 4 
"Only be strong and very courageous" (Josh. 1:7). 

THE SOURCES OE COURAGE 

Introduction: a) Joshua on the verge of a great endeavor needing 
courage. 
b) Courage counts like a host. 
I. Sources of courage in history. "As God had been with 
Moses. " 

a) The exodus. His own experience at Kadesh-barnea. 
h) Our own history as a nation. 
c) Our personal history. 

II. Sources in the law. 

a) We also know the right and can decide for it. 

b) Decision for the right brings courage and victory. 

III. Sources in our comrades. 

a) What Joshua meant to the host. 

b) What the host meant to Joshua. 

IV. Sources in God. 

a) The invisible host is greatest and strongest. 

b) God really works with us. 



The Influence of the Modern Pulpit 31 

SUGGESTION 5 

"And I said, This is my infirmity; 

But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most 
High" (Ps. 77:10). 

RESERVES m GOD 

I. The greatest of sorrows is to think that God has forgotten. 

II. The greatest of resources is to be sure that God reigns and 
cares and helps. 

SUGGESTION 6 

"And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let 
us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome 
it" (Num. 13:30). 

FORWARD IN FAITH 

I. The difficulties counted. 

II. The resources reckoned. 

III. God trusted fully. 

IV. Immediate action urged. 

Compare: "But my servant Caleb, because he had another 
spirit within him, and hath followed me fully, him wiU I bring 
into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it" 
(Num. 14:24). 

SUGGESTION 7 

"As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort 
you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem" (Isa. 66: 13). 

INFINITE COMFORT 

Develop this gracious and tender text according to the way 
in which a mother comforts a child. 
I. With intimate knowledge and sympathy. 
11. Suiting the means to the end in each case. 

III. With unyielding patience. 

IV. With sacrificial love. 

SUGGESTION 8 
"Weeping may come in to lodge at even, 
But joy Cometh in the morning " (Ps. 30:56). 



32 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

THE TWO GUESTS 

I. Sorrow that tarries for a night. 
a) No home escapes him. 

h) He brings his measure of tears. 
c) But he is a transient guest. 

II. Joy that comes in the morning. 

a) This is the soul's natural condition. 

b) He brings his treasure of love, peace, and joy. 

c) He abides permanently. 

SUGGESTION 9 

"He healeth the broken in heart, 
And bindeth up their wounds. 
He counteth the number of the stars; 
He caUeth them all by their names" (Ps. 147:3, 4). 

"star counting and heart healing"^ 

No finer title can be taken for a sermon on this noble text 
than the one caused by Percy Ainsworth. The sermon itself is 
developed with the characteristic skill and deep insight of this 
lamented young British preacher. As he says, "Only the Infinite 
can heal the soul. God could not minister to strained hearts if 
the stars were too much for him." 
I. The Infinite creator counting the stars. 

II. The Infinite Father healing hurt souls. 

SUGGESTION lO 

" Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforteth us 
in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are 
in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are 
comforted of God" (II Cor. 1:3, 4). 

^ See The Pilgrim Church, p. 29. 



The Influence of the Modern Pulpit ^t, 

HEALED TO HELP 

I. The hearts of men need help and healing. 
II. God is the great Comforter and Healer. 

III. How have we been comforted ? 

IV. How may we comfort others ? 

SUGGESTION II 

"And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of 
the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: Therefore the name of 
it was called Marah [bitter]. " 

"And they came to Elitn, where were twelve springs of water, 
and threescore and ten palm trees; and they encamped there 
by the waters" (Exod. 15:23, 27). 

FROM BITTERNESS TO BLESSING 

I. The meaning of Marah's bitter waters in the experience 

of the present age. 
II. The lure and promise of Elim's palm trees upon the horizon. 
III. The conditions of the march from Marah to Elim. 



CHAPTER III 
THE MORAL AIMS OF THE NEW ERA 

Just as the pulpit was one of the chief agents in 
defining the moral aims of the Great War, so the whole 
popular conception of the tasks of re-making the world 
must be determined largely by what the preachers 
say. The Christian pulpit must bear a leading share 
in determining the moral and spiritual aims of the 
new era. 

It is immediately apparent that the conception of the 
tasks of peace must be determined by the results of 
war; and the duties and privileges of Christian America 
are defined for her by the moral meaning of the mighty 
event that called them into being. Christian preaching 
cannot for a generation escape the spell of those vast 
ethical and religious questions which were raised by the 
Great War. There is no law by which men can gather 
figs from thistles; and unless America was right, pro- 
foundly right, as she entered upon and prosecuted the 
war in alliance with the defenders of freedom and jus- 
tice, unless our soldiers died for a noble cause, there is 
no hope that the world to be re-made from this experience 
will rest on firm moral foundations. It is no longer 
necessary to preach on the moral aims of the Great 
War; but no preacher can fit his message to the mental 
and moral mood of the new era who is not clear in his own 
mind concerning the significance of the four and a half 
years that followed the beginning of that dreadful 

34 



The Moral Aims of the New Era 35 

August in 1 9 14. The preacher must still wrestle with 
the question of the moral meaning of war. 

This is a severe test. Hundreds of ministers have 
been faithful workers in the cause of peace. They 
have been members of the various organizations that 
have been at work in the interests of international unity 
and good-will. They have preached sermons on the sub- 
ject of universal peace and have interpreted the teach- 
ings of Jesus as bearing positively upon it. 

Then came the War. At first it seemed as if we could 
carry out the part of a neutral in the great conflict. 
The terrible character of the struggle, as it developed 
a type of savagery unknown before in the history of 
fratricidal warfare, intensified the instinctive horror 
against war on the part of preachers. Probably the 
attitude of thousands is represented by that of Dr. 
Charles E. Jefferson, of New York. He had been one of 
the most efficient and forceful champions of the peace 
cause in America. He simimed up his impressions 
with his characteristic clarity of style in the volume 
entitled What the War Is Teaching, published in 19 16. 
But when the declaration of war by America came, 
Dr. Jefferson accepted the situation and met the new 
conditions loyally. 

There have been a few ministers who have been un- 
able to follow in this path. They were committed to a 
radical pacifist position and found it impossible to justify 
the War in any way. The ground on which they stand 
may be understood by reading either or both of two 
books: New Wars for Old (19 16) by John Haynes 
Hohnes, and The Outlook for Religion (1918) by W. E. 
Orchard. Dr. Holmes makes a clear statement of 



36 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

radical pacifism. Dr. Orchard writes with trenchant 
force. 

Certainly, however, in the constructive work of the 
new day even those who were not able to justify the use 
of military force will be enlisted with complete convic- 
tion and unity of purpose in the mighty work of re- 
building the world. Even such men cannot work 
without regard to the principles which were decisive 
in leading America to assume her part in the Great 
War and prosecute it to the end defined by her allies 
and herself at the beginning. 

To the vast majority of Christian preachers the moral 
and spiritual aim of the Great War presented no in- 
soluble problem. They were able to think their way 
through into agreement with their brethren in England 
and France. They supported the government in its 
decisions and entered with complete devotion into the 
constructive aims which are to be realized, at the cost 
of what struggle we do not yet foresee, in the building 
of a new world for mankind. 

Since the influence of the moral purpose of the Great 
War is so vital to the preacher's work in the new era, 
it is necessary often to review the fundamental questions 
that were involved in that gigantic struggle of arms. 
Let us undertake this within brief limits. 

To anyone who is inclined to question whether or 
not we might have remained neutral longer than we did 
or even permanently, it is a pleasure to commend the 
second section of Arthur Gleason's Our Part in the Great 
War. In six short chapters under the caption "Why 
Some Americans Are Neutral" Mr. Gleason shows how 
a time comes in every great moral question when neutral- 



The Moral Aims of the New Era 37 

ity is no longer possible if one is to keep his integrity and 
self-respect. The world is united too closely to allow 
any part of it to suffer great wrongs without involving 
all the rest. Thus the time comes when active partici- 
pation in a great struggle is a responsibihty placed by 
God himself upon an individual and a nation. Under 
those conditions 

'Tis man's perdition to be safe 
When for the truth he ought to die. 

Mr. Gleason accepts the War "as a revelation of 
the human spirit in one of its supreme struggles between 
right and wrong. " And in the presence of such a strug- 
gle it is impossible for a Christian to be neutral. There 
is only one side to the question, and only one side on 
which a true man can stand. It is impossible to read 
the report that Mr. Gleason makes of his personal 
observations in France without feeling that the utmost 
exertion of force was necessary to curb the plundering 
lust of the nation that ran amuck in the midst of modern 
civiHzation. The Great War was the tremendous asser- 
tion of the moral idealism of the world against the great- 
est enemy of human welfare that ever has arisen in the 
course of history. 

But there is another leader of American thought 
who has written a little book which for power to set the 
issue forth in convincing fashion is unsurpassed. In 
The Challenge of the Present Crisis by Harry Emerson 
Fosdick the perplexed preacher will find help for mind 
and heart. The discussion is not long; but just as Dr. 
Fosdick never touches anything that he does not illu- 
minate, here he has done one of the most useful and 



38 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

necessary bits of service that he had yet performed in 
his most useful life. 

Dr. Fosdick writes out of his heart in the whole mat- 
ter. He has felt precisely as nearly all the ministers in 
the country felt from the outbreak of the conflict. He 
has not changed his mind at all; war is still to him a 
folly and a horror. Perhaps his spirit in the discussion 
is best revealed in the remarkable prayer with which 
he pleads the cause of America : 

O God, bless our Country! We lament before Thee the cruel 
necessity of war. But what could we do ? Our dead by hundreds 
lie beneath the sea; the liberties that our sires baptized with their 
blood and handed down to us in trust, so that they are not ours 
alone but aU humanity's, are torn in shreds; and a foe is loose 
against us whom we have not chosen, whom we have not aggrieved, 
and who in his will to conquer counts solemn oaths to be but 
scraps of paper and the chivalry of the seas an empty name. We 
have grown weary, to the sickness of our souls, sitting comfortable 
here, while others pour their blood hke water forth for those things 
which alone can make this earth a decent place for men to live 
upon. What could we do? With all the evils of our nation's 
life, that we acknowledge and confess with shame, we yet plead 
before Thee that we have not wanted war, that we hate no man, 
that we covet no nation's possessions, that we have nothing for 
ourselves to gain from war, unless it be a clear conscience and a 
better earth for all the nations to live and grow in. We plead 
before Thee that if patience and good-wiU could have won the day, 
we gladly should have chosen them, and patience long since would 
have had her perfect work. And now we lay our hand upon our 
sword. Since we must draw it, O God, help us to play the man and 
to do our part in teaching ruthlessness once for aU what it means 
to wake the sleeping Hon of humanity's conscience.^ 

One knows after reading this that the discussion is 
not an essay, but rather the report of "the struggle of 

^ The Challenge of the Present Crisis, p. 46. Copyright by the 
Association Press, publishers. 



The Moral Aims of the New Era 39 

the writer to see his way and keep his soul alive in this 
terrific generation." Dr. Fosdick understands the grim 
meaning of that struggle through which many a minister 
has been passing as he has wrestled with the problem 
thrown upon him by the War and has tried to decide 
just what and how he could preach to his people. As 
he says, "One of the most important battles of this 
generation is being fought behind closed doors, where 
men are making up their minds whether this war is to 
leave them social pessimists or not." 

But the tendency to loss of hope was not closed with 
the turn of the tide of battle in the Great War. The 
civilized world is sure that it must work its way back 
painfully to its new heritage. In the report of the first 
return of the Belgians to their ruined homes a news- 
paper correspondent gave a vivid picture of the scene. 
These stricken households had been waiting for months 
and years until they might return; they started at the 
instant permission was given. They carried the wreck 
of their households saved in their precipitous flight 
and guarded during their exile. What was before them ? 
Was anything left from the ravage of the enemy? 
They trudged brokenly, not yet daring to smile. And 
this is a parable of the new day. We have been hurt 
with the wounds of war. Now we must hope again. 
But the grim sense of wonder and the threat of despair 
will not cease. The pulpit must help the world to re- 
cover its faith and courage. 

Another book, whose value is quite out of proportion 
to its size and which is invaluable to a minister who is 
seeking to think his way clearly through the present 
situation, is The Christian Man, the Church and the War 



40 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

by Robert E. Speer.* In this volume Mr. Speer dis- 
cusses the Christian attitude toward the Great War, 
the function of the church, and the relation of Chris- 
tianity to the international ideal. He has the clearness 
and force of Dr. Fosdick and his conclusions are equally 
well grounded and assuring. 

Mr. Speer handles nonresistance in a masterful 
way, with clear-headed and convincing argument which 
does full justice to the teaching of Jesus and saves it 
from misinterpretation. It ought to relieve the famihar 
words, "Resist not him that is evil," from the perver- 
sion to which it is often subjected. 

Mr. Speer puts his own position clearly in these 
significant words: 

Such a war as the American nation believes it is waging now, 
a war in defense of human rights, of weak nations, of innocent and 
inoffensive peoples, an unselfish war in which the nation seeks 
absolutely nothing for itself and is willing to spend everything in 
order that all men, including its enemies, may be free. This is a 
kind of war which we believe to be justified and right in principle 
in a world in which, at this time, those ends can only be defended 
in this way. War is an evil and is not to be tolerated unless the 
only alternative offered is a worse evU. And to let the wrong have 
free course, to let might triumph over justice is a worse evil than 
resistance.^ 

The book is full of epigrams and clarifying statements, 
such as: 

"Life is a sacred thing, but there are times when 
some lives must be sacrificed that others may be 
saved. "^ 

"War is killing, but a war against war is a war 
against killing. "^ 

^Copyright (1918) by the Macmillan Co., publishers. 
'Op. cit., p. 16. 3 P. 16. 4 P. 17. 



The Moral Aims of the New Era 41 

"The one war that can be right and not all evil is 
the war that will end war forever."^ 

" [Jesus] clearly bade us to yield our own rights, but he 
did not bid us to yield our duties. If one smites us on our 
own cheek we are to turn to him the other, but if he smites 
a little child on one cheek he will not smite it on the other 
if we have the strength and love of Christ in us."^ 

At this point it will be worth while to look at the 
way in which men of earnest spirit and profound serious- 
ness have looked at the War. There is no clearer vision 
on the part of any man than that possessed by Rev. 
Robert F. Horton, of England, and this is what he says: 

It is one of the greatest moments in the hfe of the world that we 
are hving through now; one of the greatest steps in the progress of 
humanity is about to be taken ; in human evolution nothing has hap- 
pened before Uke this; it is the great step by which nations raise 
themselves into the moral life and learn to behave to one another on 
a moral principle and in accordance with the eternal laws of God.^ 

Donald Hankey put the motives of the soldier, which 
must also be the motives of the citizens who are to 
carry on the work of the soldiers, as follows: 

If we fought from blood-lust or hate, war would be sordid. 
But if we fight as only a Christian may, that friendship and peace 
with our foes may become possible, then fighting is our duty, and 
our fasting and dirt, our wounds and our death, are our beauty 
and God's glory .'t 

Coningsby Dawson interpreted the motives of the 

soldiers as follows : 

No matter what the cost and how many of us have to give our 
lives, this war must be so finished that war may be forever at an 

^P. 22. ^V. 27. 

^Christ and the World at War, p. 8i. Copyright by the Pilgrim 
Press, publishers. 

*A Student in Arms, I, 241. Copyright by E. P. Button & Co., 
publishers. 



42 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

end. If the devils who plan wars could only see the abysmal 
result of their handiwork! Give them one day in the trenches 
under shell-fire when their lives aren't worth a five minute's 
purchase — or one day carrying the wounded through this tortured 
country, or one day in a Red Cross train. No one can imagine 
the damnable waste and Christlessness of this battering of human 
flesh. The only way that this war can be made holy is by making 
it so thorough that war will be finished for all time.^ 

Another soldier wrote : 

War is a boastful, beastly business; but if we don't plunge into 
it now, we lower the whole pitch of posterity's life, leave them 
with only some rusty reHcs of racial honor. To enter into this 
material heU now is to win for our successors a kind of immaterial 
heaven. There will be an ease and splendor in their attitude 
toward Ufe which a peaceful hand would now destroy. It is for 
the sake of that spiritual ease and enrichment of life that we 
fling everything aside now to learn to deal death.^ 

It is unnecessary to call more witnesses; but one of 
the most tender and noble of all the war poems must 
be quoted here. This sonnet sets forth the inner purpose 
of the war. It also shows how the preacher in the new 
era must also be true to the "dream, born in a herds- 
man's shed," and to "the secret Scripture of the poor." 

To My Daughter Betty, the Gift op God^ 

In wiser days, my darling rosebud, blown 

To beauty proud as was your mother's prime. 
In that desired, delayed, incredible time, 

You'U ask why I abandoned you, my own. 

And the dear heart that was your baby throne. 

To dice with death. And, oh! they'U give you rhyme 
And reason: some will call the thing subKme, 

And some decry it in a knowing tone. 

I Carry On, p. 59. Copyright by John Lane Co. 

'Dixon Scott, quoted in The Good Soldier, p. 72. 

3 Thomas Kettle's "battle-field legacy to his little girl," quoted in 
Winifred Kirkland, The New Death, p. 29. Copyright by Houghton 
Mifflin Co., publishers. 



The Moral Aims of the New Era 43 

So here, while the mad guns curse overhead 

And tired men sigh, with mud for couch and floor, 

Know that we fools, now with the foolish dead. 
Died not for flag, nor king, nor emperor. 

But for a dream, born in a herdsman's shed. 
And for the secret Scripture of the poor. 

This deep desire in the hearts of the men who have 
risked their lives in what they believe to be the last 
great war of history is matched by the insight of some of 
the noblest souls of the day. For example, we find Harry 
Emerson Fosdick saying : " The conclusion of this world- 
drama, now at its climax, need no more see the triumph 
of war than our father's generation saw the triumph of 
slavery. If we will, we may have another victory for 
Christian ideals."^ 

There is no better definition of the moral aim of 
the nation in entering upon the Great War than is to 
be found in the tremendous sentence of President Wilson 
himself, a sentence which will perhaps become significant 
in all history as a clear and mighty utterance of a great 
national purpose : 

The object of this war is to deliver the free peoples of the 
world from the menace and the actual power of a vast military- 
establishment controlled by an irresponsible government, which, 
having secretly planned to dominate the world, proceeded to carry 
the plan out without regard either to the sacred obligations of 
treaty or the long-established practices and long-cherished prin- 
ciples of international action and honor; which chose its own 
time for the war; delivered its blow fiercely and suddenly; 
stopped at no barrier, either of law or of mercy; swept a whole 
continent within the tide of blood — not the blood of soldiers 
only, but the blood of innocent women and children also, and of 
the helpless poor — and now stands balked but not defeated, the 
enemy of four-fifths of the world. 

^The Challenge of the Present Crisis, p. 20. Copyright by the 
Association Press, publishers. 



44 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

Another statement, almost equally forceful, comes 
from' President A. Lawrence Lowell, of Harvard Uni- 
versity: 

Two principles are arrayed against each other in battle 
today. One is that might makes right, that the fruits of the earth 
belong to the people who can take them, that there is no moral 
obligation superior to the welfare of the state, and that the nation 
strongest in arms is justified in using that strength relentlessly 
to push aside and trample under foot any people which stands in 
its path of expansion. The other is that aU nations, great and 
small, are entitled to respect, that aU people have a right to justice 
and that every being capable of suffering has a claim on the sym- 
pathy of man. The struggle is between autocratic, pitUess use 
of mihtary strength on one side, and Uberty, justice, and humanity 
on the other. 

Now the message of the preacher today is defined 
by just these mighty imperatives which are set forth in 
the quotations that have been given. If ever a solem- 
nizing sense of responsibility were laid upon a group of 
public teachers and leaders it is now as the preachers of 
America face the task of carrying on the tremendous 
•energies and ideals released by the Great War into the 
constructive program of their generation. The responsi- 
bility to build so that these millions shall have not died 
in vain shakes us from all fooling and sets our hearts 
aflame. If the responsibilities of the preacher during the 
war period were great, they are still greater in the era 
of rebuilding; for he has now the sacred task of so defining 
the moral aims of the age as shall insure the conservation 
of such sacrifice of life and love as the world never has 
known before. Two quotations from a recent book 
set this forth clearly: 

The responsibility to the dead to build the future they died 
for is to-day the unargued impulse of aU bereaved; the future 
itself will clarify this popular impulse and transform it into a 



The Moral Aims of the New Era 45 

binding obligation that will be the clue to all emergent activities, 
both mental and material.^ 

That no one who has died for a great cause is ever wasted, 
that the only right expression of grief is a fresh self-dedication 
to the cause the loved one loved, is an attitude toward loss that 
may well pass from the army of warriors to that greater army of 
civilians; it is already the secret of the strange resilience of 
sorrowing thousands.^ 

When the last soldier shall have returned from over- 
seas and the din of battle seems like an old story and 
echo from far away, the superb work of the American 
preacher as the definer and defender of the new ideals 
born in the struggle in Europe will only have begun. 
This is the greatest service that the Christian ministry 
ever has been called upon to render. 

Suggestions eor Sermons on the Spiritual 
Aims of the New Era 

suggestion I 

"And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the 
former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the 
desolations of many generations. 

"For I, Jehovah, love justice, I hate robbery for a burnt- 
offering; and I will give them their recompense in truth, and I 
will make an everlasting covenant with them" (Isa. 61 :4, 8). 

THE ARMY OF RESTORATION 

Introduce the subject with a vivid, brief sketch of the battered 
war region of France. 

I. The god of justice. No work of restoration will be adequate 
unless it rests upon the very nature and will of God, who 
(negatively) will not accept the results of robbery in place 
of ritual and (positively) loves justice. 

^ Winifred Kirkland, The New Death, p. 98. Copyright by Houghton 
MiflBin Co., publishers. 
^lUd., p. 67. 



46 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

II. The task of restoration. This means the lavish gift of money, 
time, and strength to replace what has been destroyed 
(o) physically, {h) intellectually, (c) spiritually. 
III. The covenant of divine love. There ought to be a great 
spiritual result from the war. A new and everlasting 
relationship between God and man ought to issue from the 
War. This must be accomplished by Christian evangelism 
of the noblest type. 

SUGGESTION 2 

"A bruised reed will he not break, and a dimly burning wick 
wiU he not quench: he will bring forth justice in truth. He will 
not fail nor be discouraged, tiU he have set justice in the earth; 
and the isles shall wait for his law" (Isa. 42: 3, 4). 

BUILDING A NEW WORLD 

I. Sympathy and tenderness. The whole world is broken and 
smoking. The task of restoration must begin with pity and 
sympathy. Hunger and grief are not national matters. 
II. Justice in truth. A fine statement of the ideal of the builders. 
"Truth is the strong thing." 

III. Courage and patience. The builders of the new world 
cannot fail in their purpose ; but they must not be discouraged. 
The great task will take time. 

IV. The whole earth. We can be satisfied now with nothing less 
than an organized world. All the nations and the far-off 
islands must be embraced within the sweep of our building 
plans. 

SUGGESTION 3 

"And I wiU restore to you the years that the locust hath 
eaten" (Joel 2:25). 

RECOVERING THE LOST YEARS 

Sketch the vivid picture of the loss caused by the locusts, 
caterpillars, and worms. The destruction was so great that it 
could be accurately described as even involving the very years 
that it had endured. 



The Moral Aims of the New Era 47 

Now these are to be restored. The measure of the destruction 
is to be the standard of the constructive task. A still better 
world must be made for aU mankind. This suggests: 
I. New homes for men's bodies. 
II. New quests for men's minds. 

III. New standards for men's moral life. 

IV. New satisfactions for men's emotions. 
V. New range for men's souls. 

SUGGESTION 4 

"And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste 
places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; 
and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer 
of paths to dwell in" (Isa. 58:12). 

ROAD-MAKERS 

This text contains four significant descriptions of the way in 

which the Christian forces of the world must construct a new world: 

I. Building the waste places. This is first of all an economic 

task; but it is moral and spiritual as well. 
II. Laying deep and permanent foundations. In part this in- 
volves repairing those that have been destroyed; it also 
involves laying new foundations for a long future. 

III. Repairing the breaches. Another statement of I, in which 
the spiritual task is to be emphasized. 

IV. Making roads. The value and permanence of roads. Here 
they are so necessary and permanent that men are said to 
"dwell" in them. Secure roads for humanity must be made 
now; then they wiU not wander into violence and hatred 
again but will dwell in the paths of peace. 



CHAPTER IV 

WHERE TO FIND THE SERMON STUFF 

This is a practical question of the greatest importance. 
Just as a carpenter must know where to find his tools 
and materials, and must be able to turn to them quickly, 
so the preacher in these busy days must know where the 
stuff for his sermons is to be found and with what kind 
of tools he can work most swiftly and surely as he 
constructs his discourse. The preacher is a literary 
craftsman as well as a prophet. Unless, therefore, he 
is swift and skilful in commanding his time, tools, and 
material, he will work in clumsy fashion. 

a) The products of earnest thinking. — The world- 
situation challenges the preacher today as never before 
to be a serious, alert thinker. The first demand upon 
the person who is to speak to the people is that he shall 
have come to close grips with the big ideas that are 
bombarding us. This means thinking — and thinking 
is hard work, harder than sawing four-foot maple butts 
into stove lengths with a dull saw. As a matter of 
fact, there are relatively few ministers who are in the 
habit of thinking steadily and consecutively for thirty 
minutes without being interrupted by the disturbing 
idea of a parish problem or a raise in their salary. We 
dawdle and indulge in reverie, but we do not think; 
and these are times that call for the most serious engage- 
ment of the preacher's mind with the situation in 
which we are to lead the people. 

48 



Where to Find the Sermon Stuff 49 

Thinking is facing the new world in a new temper. 
At a reception a gentleman remarked, as he looked over 
toward a Doctor of Divinity who seemed deep in solitary- 
meditation apart from the crowd, "Dr. X seems to be 
thinking deeply!" "No, indeed," replied the friend, 
"Dr. X is not thinking; he is just rearranging his pre- 
judices." There is a subtle danger that all ministers 
will fall into a habit like this and think that they really 
are thinking when all that they are actually doing is 
to review, renew, and readjust their well-committed 
a prjori notions. 

When Catch-my-Pal Patterson gets an audience on 
its feet to register their resolution concerning the use 
of strong drink he asks them to double up the right 
fist, punch an imaginary antagonist, and say in unison, 
"We will see this thing through." It is high time that 
the Christian ministers of America doubled up a vigorous 
intellectual fist and gave an uppercut to our urgent 
religious problems, saying together, "We will think 
this thing through." 

When a subject has laid hold on a preacher or a 
text has commanded him, the first question often 
asked is. What can! read ? That question, if it pushes 
itself forward into first place, is a sheer imperti- 
nence. The only first question that is legitim.ate is, 
What does this text say ? or, What do I think about this 
subject? If preachers would analyze their texts, 
parse them grammatically, and study the exact meaning 
of every word, we would be spared many a foolish sermon. 
Having done this, if the method of developing the sermon 
is textual — but having done it in some fashion anyhow — 
the preacher's duty is to think and think and think, until 



50 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

he is hungry and fatigued. Our sermon stuff is not mixed 
sufficiently with our own brains, and the laymen know 
it. This fact cannot be disguised by using the language 
of Zion; it is a vain ruse to "holler loud." 

No preacher can respect himself or expect his con- 
gregation to respect him until he has sweat mentally 
over his sermon. Logic must precede rhetoric. Clear 
thinking is the only safeguard for the oratorical gift. 
Exhaust your own mental resources; then bring up the 
reserves in commentaries and books. 

h) The Bible. — The Bible always has been the primary 
source of material for the preacher. It was the gospel 
that created the Scriptures, and therefore we return 
most naturally to them when we are seeking fresh defini- 
tions of the gospel. Ministers must go back to the Bible 
to discover the larger meaning of their message and the 
sources of comfort and hope that must be at their com- 
mand if they would serve the people in these times of 
perplexity and pain. 

There could not be a better preparation for preaching 
today than to read the Bible consecutively and care- 
fully, with the needs of the hour uppermost in one's 
mind, in order to gain a new grasp upon the message of 
the Scriptures to our war-wasted world. Three months 
spent on "the Book" in this way would bring vision and 
power to every preacher in rich measure. 

In reading the Bible through with this homiletic 
purpose in mind we do not need to use the slow and 
painstaking methods of the exegetical scholar. What 
we are after is the message of the Bible to the life of 
today. Therefore we may read more swiftly than we 
could if we were carrying on technical Bible study. 



Where to Find the Sermon Stuff 51 

Use a notebook, cards of standard size, or separate 
sheets of manuscript paper, and note, as you read, striking 
texts, points that may be used in sermons already "on 
the stocks," appropriate illustrations that will fit the 
needs of the time. The product of one month's work in 
this way will furnish sermon subjects and vital material 
for preaching to cover well-nigh a year. 

Go to the Bible first. Read and study the Bible as 
never before. Lay the whole universe under tribute for 
the material to be used in your sermon; but begin with 
the Bible and work out from it. Our preaching would 
take on new reality and power if we would thus restore 
the Bible to the pulpit as the first source of substance 
for preaching. No other single supply is so fertile and 
constant in truth for the times. 

In thus reading the Bible through with the homiletic 
purpose dominant in our thought, we shall find that the 
particular parts of the book take on new meaning. For 
example : The early records are full of suggestion concern- 
ing the preservation of the children of Israel in their 
escape from bitter bondage and their establishment in 
a new home. The Book of Judges gives us a vivid back- 
ground for the teaching of the prophets and the ideals 
of Jesus. It reveals the way in which a partial concep- 
tion of God, true for its time but not true for ours, in- 
spires a kind of patriotism and reHgious passion that 
matches its narrow range and limited vision. 

Then the preacher turns to the Psalms and finds them 
fertile in material for preaching in the present age. 
These great songs reflect the various moods of the in- 
dividual and the nation in periods of peril from enemies, 
in captivity, and in restoration and renewal of life. 



52 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

The shock of war may be felt throughout the Hebrew- 
Psalter. Run through the word "enemy" as it is found 
in a concordance and note how often it occurs in the 
Psalms. At least seventy times it appears in Young. 
In the name of the nation during times of distress these 
old singers uttered their laments, their loyalty, and their 
faith in the future of the repentant people. This makes 
the Psalms a treasure for texts and material for our 
own age. 

Then we turn to the Prophets. Here we find our- 
selves at once in a world that is closely akin to our 
own. As has been said: "It was the Assyrian terror, 
an incomparably worse thing, you remember, than any 
Belgian horror today (for the most ruthless Prussian 
is a very tame person, indeed, compared with the Assyr- 
ian), that awakened the soul of Israel."^ 

Any preacher seeking material for his work may turn 
to a fresh study of the prophets of Israel and he will be 
richly rewarded. He will discover the meaning of 
confident trust in God, an optimism that refuses to be 
repressed, and a final loyalty to the spiritual meaning of 
the universe. All these are necessary in the message of 
any preacher who is to bring real help to communities 
and congregations which are waiting for the voice of 
a prophet in a world re-made by war. 

Then the preacher will study the gospels just now with 
new eagerness in order that he may gain a fresh concep- 
tion of Christ and the Kingdom of God. These two 
great subjects are central in any distinctly Christian 
message to the modern world; and every Christian 
needs a larger and more vital idea of them. Many 

^Horton, Christ and the World at War, p. 43- Copyright by the 
Pilgrim Press, publishers. 



Where to Find the Sermon Stuff 53 

books have been written concerning both subjects. Let 
us not go to these first, however; let us read the gospels 
again and again. Let us study them profoundly. 
Preachers must get into the very heart of the New 
Testament. It is better to do this than to work through 
books on the person and teaching of Jesus. Such a 
careful study of the Four Gospels, with a careful dis- 
crimination between the synoptics and John, will give 
a preacher a new and firmer grasp on his message. 

Then, in order that the significance of personal union 
with Christ and the ideal of the Kingdom may be under- 
stood, the epistles ought to be studied once more. They 
have more life than doctrine in them, and they yield 
many a suggestion as to how Christian truth is to be 
applied concretely in the actual conditions under which 
men and women Hve today. 

c) The war literature. — The mass of literature that 
has been poured out from the press during the past four 
years is so vast and bewildering that one is incHned 
instinctively to turn from it in dismay. If there were 
time to read it all, or even if the best volumes were 
available on the meager book money of the average 
minister, it might seem as if we were warranted in trying 
to work though this vast field with some degree of profit. 
As it is, we tend to give it up. 

Look first at the books which have been sent without 
cost to the majority of ministers in regular pastorates. 
The larger part of these, of course, have been concerned 
with the moral aims of the war. After making a fair 
number of inquiries one is satisfied that only a small 
part of this free literature is read by the average minister. 
As a matter of fact, we do not prize highly that for which 



54 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

we pay nothing. But there have been many valuable 
books and pamphlets distributed from England and 
America which would have been well worth reading by 
the ministers to whom they have come without cost. 
Among these are Cardinal Mercier's The Voice of 
Belgium, and Arnold Toynbee's The German Terror in 
France. These are graphic and trustworthy. They give 
many a keen point for preaching in these days. 

Turning to the more general literature, one is 
amazed at the fine quaHty of it. Casalis, Hankey, 
Tiplady, Eddy, Barres, Winifred Kirkland, and many 
others have interpreted the meaning of the War on its 
moral and religious side in such a way that the preacher 
can speak to his people on the basis of their authority 
with clarifying positiveness. It is a joy to read this fine 
descriptive interpretation of the greatest events of his- 
tory. One feels the kindling glow of it. It is easier 
to preach after an hour spent with Hankey. The whole 
is so human and real! The chaplains and padres were 
close to real men and actual life. Their reflections were 
not abstract. They knew and felt with the men who 
were fighting and suffering. It is stimulating. Re- 
Hgious problems take on reaHty; sins cease to be phe- 
nonema for theological investigation; they are real. 
The virtues walk the soHd earth once more. The 
influence of this literature will be profound and whole- 
some on preaching. 

d) Current magazine and newspaper articles. — The 
amount of writing that one finds in the magazines and 
newspapers bearing on religious subjects since the Great 
War began is astonishing. Leading editorials on some 
phase of moral or religious life appear in the daily 



Where to Find the Sermon Stuff 55 

newspapers. The magazines are taking up ethical and 
religious problems as never before. 

There are two magazines which offer rich resources 
to the preacher. The first of these is the Atlantic 
Monthly. Every preacher ought to have access to this 
publication. The manner in which it has covered the 
moral and rehgious aspects of the War is most praise- 
worthy. The article by Dr. Odell challenged the 
preacher and woke us up. The writers are men and 
women of international reputation; their work is most 
valuable. The second magazine which is full of material 
is the weekly Literary Digest. The variety of matter 
to be found here is marked. The cartoons, the quota- 
tions, the religious section, the review of current events — 
all these are profitable to the preacher. It seems to us 
the best weekly for the minister's general purpose. It 
does not have the literary and original quahty of the 
Outlook and the Independent. Probably mention should 
be made of other magazines; but these seem to the 
writer best adapted for the preacher's particular work. 

Watch the editorial colimins of the daily papers! 
There are utterances to be found there now that were 
unknown five years ago. Take such an editorial as 
this from the Louisville Courier- Journal, in which Henry 
Watterson writes : 

Surely the future looks black enough, yet it holds a hope, a 
single hope. One, and one power only, can arrest the descent 
and save us. That is the Christian reKgion. Democracy is 
but a side issue. The paramount issue underlying the issue of 
Democracy is the religion of Christ, and Him crucified; the 
bedrock of civilization; the source and resource of all that is worth 
having in the world that is, that gives promise in the world to come; 
not as an abstraction; not as a huddle of sects and factions; but 



56 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

as a mighty force and principle of being If the world is 

to be saved from destruction — it will be saved alone by the Chris- 
tian rehgion. 

Such an editorial as this can be used in a sermon with 
altogether unique and teUing force. It does not come 
from a salaried and professional representative of a 
Christian body. It is the spontaneous expression of 
the faith and hope of a layman; as such it carries weight 
that a quotation from the church fathers never could 
convey. 

A thoughtful preacher will be alert to clip and pre- 
serve articles of this kind for timely use in his preaching. 
In a recent address at Convention Hall in Kansas City 
one of the distinguished preachers of the Middle West 
used two such clippings from the daily papers most effec- 
tively. A dozen proof-texts would not have carried the 
weight of his single quotation from a cabled report of 
Admiral Beatty's words. The modern preacher has a 
mighty weapon put into his hands now by the current 
press. 

e) Soldiers' letters. — ^Aside from the published vol- 
umes of letters from soldiers, the newspapers are printing 
many others which often have the added charm and effec- 
tiveness of local reference and thus mean more to the 
home folks. Sometimes copies of these letters can be 
secured during the round of parish visiting. Others 
may be found in the papers. In any event, if the use 
of them is dictated by good taste they will drive a truth 
home in a fine way. Here, for example, is part of a 
letter that was published in the Wichita (Kansas) 
Eagle from Lieutenant Kenneth Cassidy: 

Anyhow, you have the picture of me at mass at 6 a.m. on 
Easter Sunday, standing silent through a simple but impressive 



Where to Find the Sermon Stuff 57 

service with a thousand other Irishmen, heads bared, faces earnest. 
Probably in that assembly there were men of as many faiths as 
I could count on the fingers of four hands. Yet there they were 
joined in a mutual brotherhood, all gathered with the single pur- 
pose of worship, and as we stood there in the early dawn, listening 
to the few words spoken by a man loved as few men are loved, a 
man who fills the very atmosphere that surrounds him with holi- 
ness — for such a man is Father Duffy, I felt a stronger kinship 
for my brother there than I have ever felt before. The pictur- 
esque landscape; the quaint old town; the battle-scarred ruins; 
the fresh, bahny spring air — and the quiet peaceful multitude — 
and I wondered why it was that men must be torn with such 
violent passions — why there must be war and ruin, rapine and 
bloodshed, and all the untold horrors being enacted here every 
day. 

And then I thought of the common feeling of all gathered there 
and I wondered again that it was as it was, Catholic and Scientist, 
Protestant and nonsectarian, side by side. But, of course, the 
question thus raised in my mind was answered at once by the 
realization that the minor disputes were buried in the united 
desire of those gathered there to settle a dispute which for the 
time at least was greater and more potent than intersectarian 
squabbles. Then, as I continued to think along these lines, the 
belief seemed forced upon me that there was and is something 
fundamentally wrong with the very foundation of our modern 
ethics. 

So, I wondered, Is it not natural that when the foundation of 
a great people, which is their religion, I believe, begins to crumble, 
after a while the whole structure of their civilization will faU 
with a cataclysmic crash ? When we can begin by being brothers 
in the fundamental thing I believe we can begin to hope to some 
day attain to that mythical Utopia called by some one "lasting 
universal peace." 

Concerning the war letters, their most successful 
editor and interpreter writes: 

Never has any other army thus lived through its soul. And 
this soul reaches us from these soldiers through millions of 



58 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

sublime letters which for two years have given France her 
spiritual bread. 

May we not hope that some day in every family these letters 
will be carefuUy gathered, that they will be guarded as treasures 
and that they will be reverently read ? 

It is in this way that the interior hfe of our soliders shall be 
made known and that the secret of heroic France shall be revealed.^ 

/) Cartoons and pictures. — One of the ways in which 
a preacher's mind is stimulated to discover or discuss 
a subject is by a picture or cartoon. Never were these 
to be found in such abundance and variety as they are 
today. The value of pictures and cartoons is twofold: 
Often they suggest at a glance a subject or a point for 
a sermon. In an instant the whole matter comes before 
one's mind and the subject is defined by the picture. 
The working out of the subject requires thought and 
time; but the first definition came like a flash from the 
picture. Then one may often describe a picture briefly 
or refer to a cartoon which he is quite sure that the 
majority of the audience has seen, and in this way make 
clear and vivid a point that abstract discussion would 
not reveal with such immediate effectiveness. The 
filing cabinet that contains a section for cartoons and 
pictures will be found to yield rich profit. 

It may seem after this inventory as if we might have 
saved all the time and space consumed by merely saying 
that the sermon stuff is to be found everjrwhere. Well, 
in a nutshell, that is it. The preacher today must 
lay the universe under tribute. Everywhere around 
him He the materials which it is his privilege to use in 
his sermons. It is a fascinating business. A few men 

^ Maurice Barres, The Faith of France, p. 5. Copyright by Houghton 
Mifflin Co., publishers. 



Where to Find the Sermon Stuff 59 

never understand it or yield to its charm. They wind 
their painful way from sermon to sermon like panting 
camels groaning great doctrines through the desert of 
dogma. To the vast majority, however, this is the day 
of opportunity and privilege; the world is ours; we 
go out to gather its treasures for the enrichment of 
the vital Christian message. 



CHAPTER V 
PREACHING PATRIOTISM 

The American pulpit must have a clear message 
concerning patriotism and democracy in these days of 
constructive planning for the new world. We shall not 
attempt to make hard and fast distinctions between these 
two terms in the following references and discussions. 

■ Under the stress of the War it has been possible for 
a kind of shrieking and parochial patriotism to get fast 
hold on our American minds. It seems most patriotic 
to say, "Our country, right or wrong." But a Uttle 
honest reflection will show that this is far from the right 
or noble form of patriotism that will satisfy us as we 
try to make our kind of democracy safe for the world. 
That is precisely what Germany tried to do for four 
years of international crime. We have had enough of 
this. The kind of patriotism and democracy that we 
must seek to define through the pulpit is that which is 
ready to confess its KabiHty to error and which gives 
every other nation its just rights in defining its own ideals. 

In this spirit of international sensitiveness the pulpit 
will speak on patriotism with clear accent. In preparing 
for the message which he is to give, the preacher today 
will find help in at least the following lines of reading. 

I. The message of the Old Testament prophets lives 
again in the needs of the hour. This field is famihar 
and it is probably like carrying coals to Newcastle to 
remind a preacher today of the great outlines in the 

60 



Preaching Patriotism 6i 

patriotic message and example of these men who spoke 
long ago in the name of the Lord. 

With what relentless urgency they brought to the 
mind and conscience of the people the reality and penalty 
of sin, especially in its social aspects! They were not 
so concerned with theological transgressions as they were 
with the practical and deadly evils that were apparent 
in civic life. As David could not escape that relentless 
forefinger of Nathan when he said, " Thou art the man, " 
so the wicked nation could not shut its eyes or close 
its ears to the figure and voice of the prophets who dared 
tell the people the truth about their sins. 

How they comforted and assured the nation in the 
long times of captivity and desolation! The prophetic 
note is keyed to the mighty words, "Comfort ye my 
people .... speak ye home to the heart of Jerusalem. " 
Warning and comfort mingled in the message of these 
seers of the Most High. 

Then these Old Testament patriots were men who had 
practical programs for the people. Their words were not 
enough. They also knew what ought to be done. An 
academic patriotism that solves problems in the easy- 
chair and sets the world right from the observation car 
of a limited train is not profitable or reliable in the long 
run. Ideals have to be wrought into programs, and the 
constructive patriot is the man who can furnish a plan 
to match his dream. Therefore we turn with new satis- 
faction in these difficult days to the Old Testament 
prophets. 

2. The words of Mazzini are full of fresh meaning 
just now. Not only for their intrinsic value, but also 
because the kindling messages that this fervid soul sent 



62 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

to his countrjrtnen and to all mankind accomplished 
so much in the interests of devoted patriotism, such a 
volume as The Duties of Man and Other Essays, published 
in Everyman's Library, is a vital book for the modern 
preacher. 

The first respect in which the message of Mazzini 
touches the needs of the modern pulpit lies in the fact 
that he is intensely religious in all that he thinks and 
writes. "The origin of your duties is in God," he says. 
"The definition of your duties is found in His law. 
The progressive discovery and the application of His 
law is the task of Humanity. "^ 

It is stimulating to read the words written in i860 
to the "Italian working class": 

If you would withdraw yourselves from beneath the arbitrary 
rule and tryanny of men, you must adore God. And in the war 
which is being fought in the world between Good and Evil, you 
must enrol yourselves under the banner of Good and combat Evil 
without truce, rejecting every dubious course, every cowardly 
dealing, and every hypocrisy of leaders who seek to compromise 
between the two. On the path of the first you will have me for 
comrade as long as I live.^ 

But the significant point in the patriotic teaching of 
Mazzini is the way in which he makes patriotism always 
consist in the larger and nobler love for humanity. This 
is kept constantly before the reader in The Duties of 
Man. He appeals to his Italian readers in these glowing 
words: 

You will never deny the sister nations. The life of the Coun- 
try shall grow through you in beauty and in strength, free from 
servile fears and the hesitations of doubt, keeping as its foundation 
the people, as its rule the consequences of its principles logically 

^ The Duties of Man, p. 21. ^ Ibid., p. 3. 



Preaching Patriotism 63 

deduced and energetically applied, as its strength the strength of 
all, as its outcome the amelioration of all, as its end the fulfilment of 
the mission which God has given it. And because you wiU be 
ready to die for Humanity, the life of your Country wiU be im- 
mortal.^ 

This is the point of view which makes Mazzini one of 
the most profitable masters to the preacher of the pres- 
ent. For, as we have noted, there is great need that the 
pulpit shall know how to combat the grave error that 
lurks in all patriotic appeal, namely, that it will be made 
apart from the consciousness and claim of the race and 
thus degenerate into a form of national group selfishness. 
This suffering prophet of freedom is clear-eyed at this 
point and he has no desire to promote a patriotism that 
is faithless to the larger claims of humanity as children 
of God. 

3. We have come to the time when we appreciate 
more than ever before the meaning of the words and 
spirit of Abraham Lincoln. A united nation pays its 
tribute of sincerest honor to the man who embodied the 
cause of human freedom and national unity in the great- 
est civil conflict that the American people ever have 
experienced. He did this, however, with such firmness 
for the right and such S3mipathy for the men who 
fought bravely against him that in the end the represen- 
tatives of both parties unite to do him honor. Lincoln 
becomes in these testing hours a trustworthy guide to 
the only right form of patriotism. His name has come 
to stand for the noblest type of love and loyalty to 
one's country. There is no longer any danger of arousing 
partisanship in urging his ideals upon Americans. 

^ Ibid., p. 59. 



64 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

The Lincoln literature is so vast that one is perplexed 
rather by its abundance than its lack. Among the 
biographies which are most interesting are those by 
Miss Tarbell and Mr. Rothschild. The main events 
in the public Ufe of President Lincoln are so well known 
and the prominent traits in his character are so well 
defined that it is not necessary to review them at any 
great length in order to make effective use of them in 
preaching today. 

The most profitable part of the Lincoln literature 
is the material that is to be found in the presidential 
speeches, addresses, and letters. There are many col- 
lections of these available; one was published in 1907 
by the Current Literature Publishing Company and is 
inexpensive and convenient. 

There are many brief addresses which express 
Lincoln's fundamental faith in God and in the rehgious 
meaning of human hfe. A reply to an address by Mrs. 
Gurney, in 1862, speaks of his own life and work as 
instriunents in the hands of God "to work out his great 
purposes." So in every interpretation of his life, 
Lincoln was constantly interpreting his purpose as 
definitely concerned with doing the will of God. 

But it is in the Second Inaugural of March 4, 1865, 
that the words of President Lincoln rise to their supreme 
height. Indeed, although the Gettysburg Address is 
far more widely known, the Second Inaugural is probably 
the greatest single short utterance of Lincoln, In 
spite of the fact that the concluding paragraph is so 
well known, it is worth while to read it often. The 
whole address ought to be an object of frequent reference 
by the preacher: 



Preaching Patriotism 65 

The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the world 
because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; 
but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh. " If we shall 
suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in 
the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having con- 
tinued through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and 
that he gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the 
woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern there- 
in any departure from those divine attributes which the believers 
in a living God always ascribe to him ? Fondly do we hope — 
fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge of war may 
speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all 
the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years 
of imrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood 
drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword 
as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 
"The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." 

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness 
in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to 
finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to 
care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, 
and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just 
and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations. 

These noble words give us certain principles that 
are as valid now as they were in 1865 and upon which our 
Christian people will do well to think as preachers 
bring them to their minds and hearts. 

First there is the grace of the generous judgment 
that is not made charitable simply by obliterating 
fundamental distinctions, but keeps true to the command 
of Jesus. It was a time of bitter passions and of right 
arrayed against wrong; but the antagonists were praying 
to the same God and had the right to claim that their 
motives should be mutually understood. This is what 
Lincoln did. He understood and appreciated the South 



66 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

with a degree of insight that hardly any other northern 
leader possessed. Time has revealed this fact. 

Another point at which the words and work of Lin- 
coln aid the preacher today is in their illustration of 
the unyielding confidence in a right cause. The great 
President knew that he was right and that his antagonists 
were wrong. Because this was so he knew that his 
cause must ultimately win. The war might continue in 
spite of all that he or any other man could do to prevent 
it; but so long as the moral order of the universe stood, 
the right cause must finally triumph. 

In spite of the perplexing issues involved in the propo- 
sition, Lincoln held steadfastly to the truth that God 
is actively on the side of those who fight for the truth. 
He thought of himself as the agent of the moral God; 
he reUed upon the resources that God would bring to 
him and to his cause. With Lincoln the words "the will 
of God" stood for something that had reality and power 
in it. 

He made a clear distinction that we would do well 
to keep in mind when it is so easy to prate about the 
partnership between man and God. The famous 
reply made by Lincoln to a minister who said that he 
hoped that "the Lord was on our side," points the truth 
that ought to be frequently emphasized in the preaching 
of today. "I am not at all concerned about that," 
replied Mr. Lincoln, "for I know that the Lord is always 
on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety 
and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's 
side." 

Another fact that appears from the words and life 
of Lincoln is the humility and tenderness that were 



Preaching Patriotism 67 

born of his sense of dependence upon God. He never 
boasted. Saber rattling was as far from Lincoln's 
thought as it has been supreme in the characteristic 
action of the former German Kaiser and his strutting 
court. Lincoln walked humbly with his God and not 
majestically ahead of him, as the Kaiser invariably did. 
Cruel and terrible as war is, it is utterly impossible to 
think of Lincoln as sanctioning for an instant the common 
practice of relentless cruelty and fiendish frightfulness 
that marked the conduct of the Great War by Germany. 
The love and tenderness of Lincoln were as contrary to 
aU this German program as evil is contrary to good. 

Here also the modern preacher finds material for 
sermons that shall help our people when they are tempted 
by the report of the ravage of Belgium and the slaughter 
of Armenia to indulge the spirit of revenge and be burned 
by hate and lust for retaliation. No right-minded 
person can fail to flame with indignation at the authen- 
tic records of what has happened; but every Christian 
can hold his wrath in the leash of the spirit of Jesus 
and not fall into the mistake of thinking that evil can 
be finally overcome by evil. Retaliation was discredited 
long ago as the final means of conquering wrong, even 
if it must be indulged for a time. At last we must use 
the better method that Jesus employed and of which 
Lincoln was so conspicuous an example. 

4. We can touch only briefly upon another source of 
material for preaching on patriotism. The days of the 
Civil War in the United States lie far behind us now 
and we can begin to understand the values in the strug- 
gle that were unseen until recently. North and South 
alike have come to appreciate the personal character 



68 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

and the loyalty of Robert E. Lee. As a Christian and 
as the defender of what he thought to be the truth 
his work was filled with devotion and high-minded 
sacrifice. It is possible to turn to his life for illustrations 
of patriotic service and feel that the passage of time has 
brought a merited honor to his name. 

Robert E. Lee's loyalty to Virginia and his patriotic 
devotion to what he conceived to be the rights of a 
sovereign state are the principles according to which his 
decision to surrender his commission as an officer of 
the United States Army must be understood. In the 
beginning of 1861 he wrote: 

As an American citizen I take great pride in my country, her 
prosperity and institutions. But I can anticipate no greater 
calamity for this country than the dissolution of the Union. It 
would be an accumulation of all the evils we complain of, and 
I am willing to sacrifice everything but honor for its preservation. 
I hope, therefore, that aU constitutional means will be exhausted 
before there is a resort to force. Secession is nothing but revolu- 
tion Still a Union that can only be maintained by swords 

and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the 
place of brotherly love and kindness, has no charm for me. I 
shall mourn for my country, and for the welfare and progress of 
mankind. If the Union is dissolved and the government, I shall 
return to my native state and share the miseries of my people, 
and, save in defence, will draw my sword no more.'^ 

The decision of the personal question involved an 
intense mental struggle. "All night nearly he paced 
his chamber floor alone, often seeking on his knees the 
guidance of the God he trusted in." When finally he 
decided that his supreme duty compelled him to follow 
the fortunes of Virginia, he acted from as genuine a 

^ Page, Robert E. Lee (1908) , p. 43. Copyright by C. Scribner's Sons. 



Preaching Patriotism 69 

motive of patriotism as guided Lincoln. Lee saw the 
state; Lincoln saw the nation. Each followed his con- 
science as his king and yielded allegiance to imperial 
duty. 

Were both patriots ? Lee wrote : 

I need not tell you that true patriotism sometimes requires 
men to act exactly contrary at one period to that which it does at 
another — and the motive which impels them — the desire to do 
right — is precisely the same. History is full of iUustrations of 
this. Washington himself is an example. He fought at one time 
against the French imder Braddock, in the service of the King 
of Great Britain; at another he fought with the French at York- 
town, under the orders of the Continental Congress against him. 
He has not been branded by the world with reproach for this; 
but his course has been applauded,^ 

This apparent inconsistency is now understood. 
The men of the North in this time of war appreciate 
as never before the intense patriotism of Robert E. 
Lee and give him the honor due to a great soul. 

5. Another character which the preacher can turn 
to in preaching patriotism today is Carl Schurz. The 
eager devotion of this intrepid defender of the cause of 
freedom ought to be emphasized in order that the people 
may understand that there once was a Germany that 
produced men of this mold. Not only for what he gained 
from America but for what he gave her, Carl Schurz 
stands among the noblest and bravest of patriots. 

6. Letters from the soldiers themselves form another 
rich source of material for sermons on patriotism. The 
finest collection of these is to be found in The Faith of 
France, by Maurice Barres. Not only has he gathered 

^From a letter to General Beauregard quoted in Page, Robert E. 
Lee (1908), p. 53. Copyright by C. Scribner's Sons. 



70 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

these letters with ardent affection, but he has inter- 
preted them with the insight and passion of a poet. 
It is our habit in America to salute France; but if one 
would feel the full justification for this, let him read the 
pages of Barres as he marshals his witnesses to the divine 
inspiration of French patriotism. The following are 
brief quotations from letters cited by him: 

Joseph Arnoult, soldier in the 44th Colonial Regiment of 
Infantry, wrote, just before he fell upon the field of honor: 
"I left [home], making the sacrifice of my life to God, prajdng that 
he might quickly accept it. I wish to die as a martyr for the 
salvation of my own sotd and for that of France. "^ 

This soldier had been cited in the regiment's records 
with these words, "He constantly volunteered for special 
patrol, duty." These were not weak phrases, there- 
fore; "to die as a martyr" was language full of the 
stern reahty of the night, the danger, and the special 
patrol. 

Pierre de Rozieres was cited four times for bravery. 
These are his words: 

The hour of universal sacrifice has sounded. The best blood 
is the blood which counts the most as a holocaust in the eyes of 
God. It may be to this that I owe my life. Paul Michaut 
[his cousin in the glass works at Baccarat] was one of the victims 
on whose accoimt God will give us victory. If I am to serve, and 
to serve well in the future, I have the firm conviction that I shall 
be spared. But if my life is not to respond to the ideal I have ever 
before me, then God in His goodness will take me at the moment 
when I have reached the extreme of my utility. Why should I 
be anxious ? It is evident that the very best Frenchmen will be 
tested by infinite suffering; and as I am not one of the best, it is 
certain that I shall not be called upon to suffer the most.^ 

^ The Faith of France, p. 45. Copyright by Houghton MiflBin Co., 
publishers. 

^ Ibid., p. 136. 



Preaching Patriotism 71 

On the eve of a great offensive in Champagne, where 
he was killed on October 6, 1915, Maurice Dieterlin 
sent this last message to his family: 

I have spent the most beautiful day of my existence. I 
regret nothing and I am as happy as a king. I am glad to forfeit 
my life in order that my country may be delivered. Say to our 
friends that I am going to victory with a smile on my lips, rejoi- 
cing more than have all the stoics and all the martjnrs throughout 
the ages. We are only one moment in eternal France. France 
must live — France shall live. 

Prepare your most beautiful raiments. Treasure your 
smiles to do honor to the conquerors in this great war. We may 
not be amongst them — others wiU be there in our stead. You 
shall not weep. You shall not wear mourning for us, because we 
die with a smile on our lips and with a superhuman joy in our 
hearts. Long live France! Long live France!^ 

Among the most courageous of these young idealists 
have been Roman Catholic priests and Protestant 
ministers. It was one of the former, Father de Gironde, 
who is reported as saying shortly before his death at 
Ypres, in December, 1914: 

To die young, to die a priest, a soldier, while attacking, while 
advancing, in the fuU performance of one's sacerdotal privileges, 
or perhaps giving absolution; to shed my blood for the Church, 
for France, for my friends, for all whose hearts are filled with the 
same ideal as my own, and for others who know the joy of belief. 
Ah, how beautiful this is I^ 

Only one more quotation may be given. It reveals 
the final emotions of the soldiers who have won the vic- 
tory in the Great War: 

Now, mother, dearest to me among all these admirable 
French mothers, I would like to see thee the most French of them 

^lUd., p. 59. 'Ibid., p. 43. 



72 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

all. Say to thyself that no Ufe whatsoever, not even that of thine 
own son, is anything in comparison with the salvation of the 
country.^ 

These young men, the majority of them in the early 
twenties, many of them educated in the best schools 
of France, gave their lives for France without a moment's 
hesitation. It is not a wonder that this action has been 
interpreted by both laymen and clericals as essentially 
religious. 

The democratic ideals of America have been in the 
glowing process of shaping ever since the Great War 
began. The Hterature that has appeared on the subject 
is bewildering in its amount and method of discussion. 
Undoubtedly President Wilson himself is the spokesman 
on this high theme to which the minister will be most 
inclined to listen, irrespective of his poHtical party 
preferences. Furthermore the large outHne of the Presi- 
dent's ideal is clear enough from the propositions which 
he has laid down in his addresses and papers. Democ- 
racy as we conceive it in America rests in the right of the 
people to govern themselves, with due regard for the 
rights of other free nations. The democratic idea 
according to President Wilson conforms to the similar 
standards in the minds of Mazzini and Lincoln and 
Lee. The League of Nations which must guarantee 
the peace and welfare of the world in the future cannot 
be erected on the basis of any especial divine or human 
rights possessed by any one people in disregard for the 
equally divine and human rights of others. 

When it comes to preaching this conception of democ- 
racy, it is found to consist with the ideal of the Kingdom 

^A Soldier Unafraid, p. 52. Copyright by Little, Brown & Co., 
publishers. 



Preaching Patriotism 73 

of God as it is defined in the New Testament. Jesus 
himself is the great Christian champion of democracy. 
These ideals are not something which have been dis- 
covered by any school of political economists. They 
are simply the gospel, simply the "simple" gospel, 
applied in the government of the individual, the nation, 
and the race as a whole. The preacher finds himself 
instantly and happily at home here, for he is dealing 
with the essential Christian message as it was given in 
the beginning and has persisted in spite of eclipse and 
apparent total loss at times. 

The immediate duty of the American minister as he 
preaches on patriotism and democracy is to exalt the 
worth of true loyalty to one's country, to insist that this 
shall be maintained in right relations to international 
consciousness and responsibility, and to warn the people 
faithfully against the peril of becoming Prussianized 
while we seek completely to defeat Prussianism. This 
last point is such a clear and urgent duty that we dwell 
upon it now for the sake of added emphasis. Our 
most thoughtful preachers have seen the danger and have 
been faithful in proclaiming the peril and in suggesting 
practical ways in which to meet it. Robert E. Speer 
says: 

If .... we are justified in this one more war to stop war, 
it does not follow that we are free to yield to the spirit that we set 
out to destroy. Precisely otherwise. If this view now allows 
and warrants war, it also warns and cautions and sobers us. It 
bids us be rid of our prejudice and passion, to chant no hymns of 
hate, to keep our aims and our principles free from selfishness and 
from any national interest which is not also the interest of all 
to refrain from doing in retaUation and in war the very things we 
condemn in others, to avoid Prussianism in our national life in 



74 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

the effort to crush Prussianism, to guard against the moral unclean- 
ness which has characterized past wars as against pestilence, to 
magnify the great constructive and humane services for which 
humanity calls in every such time of tragedy, to love and pray 
for our enemies, to realize that the task set for us is not to be dis- 
charged in a year or five years, not by money and ships and guns, 
but by life, that it is a war to the death against all that makes war 
possible. We have to replace an order of selfishness and wrong 
and division with an order of brotherhood and righteousness and 
unity. Whatever stands in the way of that new order in our nation 
or in our hearts is an aUy of the ideals and spirit against which we 
contend. To tolerate or to conceal behind our armies the policies, 
the prejudices, or the passions which are before them is disloyalty. 
To try to make our own hearts pure and our own hands clean so 
that we may be worthy of being used to achieve victory and peace 
is loyalty, and it is the only kind of loyalty that will stand the 
strain that we must now prepare ourselves to meet.^ 

Suggestions for Sermons on Patriotism 
suggestion i 

"Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, 
the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates 
thereof are consumed with fire?" (Neh. 2:3). 

AN OLD-TIME PATRIOT 

An outline study of Nehemiah, the patriot. The following 
points are indicated in the text and are pertinent to modern 
conditions: 
I. Loyal to native land in exile and prosperity (1:2). 
II. Recognizing dependence on God (1:5-11; 5:15). 

III. Forming practical plans for patriotic work (2:7, 8). 

IV. Careful survey preceding service (2 : 13-16). 

V. Detailed organization under leadership (4:16-20). 
VI. Governor without graft (5:14-18). 

^ The Christian Man, the Church and the War, pp. 30, 31. Copyright 
by the Macmillan Co., publishers. 



Preaching Patriotism 75 

SUGGESTION 2 

"Only thou shalt not bring my son thither again" (Gen. 
24:6-8). 

AMERICANIZED 

In order to work out a new destiny in a new land, Isaac 
must remain in Canaan and not return to his father's early home. 
This indicates three points: 

I. The gift of the old land to the new. 
II. The welcome of the new land to the old. 
III. The union of old and new in the future state. 

SUGGESTION 3 

"I will not take a thread nor a shoe-latchet nor aught that is 
thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich" (Gen. 
14:23). 

LEADERS WITH CLEAN HANDS 

I. The place and power of leaders in a democracy. 
II. The peril of graft and gain. 
III. The true leader a man with clean hands. 

SUGGESTION 4 
"And my wrath, it upheld me" (Isa. 63:5). 

THE STRENGTHENING GRACE OF A GREAT PASSION 

The foUy and failure of neutrality and indifference when justice 
and truth are in danger. The necessity of great, compelling ideals ; 
of hatred for evil and love for the truth. Therefore these points: 

I. Defining a nation's ideals and loyalties, 
II. The steadying power of a great ideal passionately defended. 
III. The final victory of a great passion for truth and justice. 

SUGGESTION 5 

"Only behave as citizens worthily of the gospel of Christ" 
(Phil. 1:27). 



76 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

RELIGION AND CITIZENSHIP 

The margin correctly reproduces the figure involved in the 
Greek verb. This suggests: 
I. Religion is a civic power: Christianity has a direct reference 

to the state. 
II. Civic life needs religion to cleanse and ennoble it. 
III. Religion and civic duty must co-operate constantly in a 
world re-made through war. 

SUGGESTION 6 

"Oh, my lord, if Jehovah is with us, why then is all this 
befallen us? 

"And Jehovah said, Go in this thy might, and save Israel" 
(Judg. 6:13, 14). 

HOPE IN DARK DAYS 

Gideon, beating out wheat in the wine press to deceive the 
Midianites, was in despair. 
I. The mood of despair. Its cause and curse and cure. 
II. The strength of God in a national crisis. 
III. The mission of the patriot. 

SUGGESTION 7 

"By the watercourses of Reuben 
There were great resolves of heart. 
Why sattest thou among the sheepfolds 
To hear the pipings for the flocks ? 
At the watercourses of Reuben 
There were great searchings of heart" 

(Judg. 5:15, 16). 

THE CALL OF THE CRISIS 

I. The pipings for the flocks. Security; comfort; safety. 

Industry; home life; peace. 
II. The searchings of heart. Justice violated; truth defied; 
mercy set at naught. Chivalry; loyalty; humanity; re- 
ligion. 
III. The patriot's response. The flocks exchanged for the camp. 



Preaching Patriotism 77 

SUGGESTION 8 
"Then I said, Here am I; send me" (Isa. 6: 8). 

VOLUNTEERS 

I. The call is personal. 
II. The call is specific. 

III. The call is urgent. 

IV. The call involves sacrifice. 

V. The call ennobles the volunteer. 

SUGGESTION 9 

"That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, 
without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, 
among whom ye shine a,s lights in the world" (Phil. 2:15). 

IDEAL CITIZENS 

I. Negatively: free from wrongdoing. 
II. In the midst of hfe and not isolated from it. 
III. Positively: like the light, energetic and constant in the 
creation and support of Hfe. 

SUGGESTION lO 

"Then render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and 
unto God the things that are God's" (Luke 20:25). 

PATRIOTIC OBLIGATION AND RELIGIOUS LOYALTY 

I. Our country rightly claims our service. 
II. Our God also rightly claims our service. 

III. Neither conflicts with the other. 

IV. One complements the other and both together make hfe 
sane and good. 



CHAPTER VI 
THE WORTH OF HUMANITY 

Here is a paradox: At the very moment when human 
life was being extinguished with such reckless prodigality, 
the worth of the human soul was being revealed in all 
its divine and eternal value. The very experiences 
which seemed to obliterate the worth of the individual 
set such value upon human Hfe as never had appeared 
before. 

Of all the doctrines of religion that practically in- 
fluence the preacher ' none has a more radical meaning 
than his conception of human nature, what it is and 
what it is worth. If man is of little value and his destruc- 
tion is an unimportant matter, the preacher has no 
urgency to impel him to plead for the salvation of the 
soul. Nor has he any compelling sense of the meaning 
of sin. For all the significance of sin depends upon the 
value of that which is destroyed by it. To spill ink over 
a mop rag involves no disaster; to dash it across a piece 
of old lace means dire loss. It is the worth of that which 
is injured which determines the character of the force 
which works the injury. Thus no preacher ever can 
speak with conviction concerning the fundamental 
truths of rehgion unless he has first of all a clear idea 
of the nature of man and the worth of human life. 

Probably there is no more conspicuous example of 
this principle than Phillips Brooks. The one ruling idea 
in his mind was the worth of life and the majesty of 
human nature. If one grasps the practical meaning of 

78 



The Worth of Humanity 79 

the simple sentence, "all men are the children of God," 
the master-motive of the great preacher's work is imme- 
diately clear. To him himianity seemed infinitely pre- 
cious. Jesus came into a human experience from the heart 
of the Father God in order that he might show us how 
noble and good it was to Hve as the Father would have us. 
PhilHps Brooks made every appeal to what he conceived 
to be the real person, the divine image in the human. 

However we may regard the fundamental theology 
of this position, it is undoubtedly true that it gives the 
preacher a tremendous faith and mighty appeal. If 
himianity is worth so much to God we must do all we 
can to bring it to self-expression; we must fight with all 
the forces at our command the influences that put it in 
peril at any point. Therefore let us see what the Great 
War has been saying concerning the worth of human life. 
Has it made it cheap or has it made it great ? 

First of all it is apparent that the War has subjected 
men to such tests as have revealed their innate character. 
We were drifting along quite easily and there were no 
searching situations to call for great decisions. Then 
the challenge came. Donald Hankey has shown what 
this involved in the following words: 

In the trenches the real white man finally and conclusively 
comes to his own. The worm, no matter how exalted his rank, 
automatically ceases to count. The explanation of this phe- 
nomenon is very simple. In the moment of crisis the white man is 
always on the spot, while the worm is always in his dug-out."^ 

This soldiers' use of the term "white man" is exceed- 
ingly suggestive, for it comes from the trenches where 

M Student in Arms, Series i, p. 32. Copyright by E. P. Dutton 
& Co., publishers. 



8o The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

men with black skins are fighting side by side with 
Caucasians, and the words used here are not ethnological. 
They refer to the soul and not to the complexion. They 
describe character and conduct. 
At another time Hankey writes: 

I have been discovering human goodness And oh, I 

have found it! In Bermondsey, in the stinking hold of the Zieten, 
in the wide, thirsty desert of Western Australia, and in the ranks 
of the Seventh Battalion of the Rifle Brigade. I enlisted very 
largely to find out how far I really believed in the brotherhood of 
man when it comes to the point — and I do beheve in it more and 
more.^ 

Thus out of the blood and dirt and death of the 
trenches came the revelation of new worth in the hu- 
manity crowded together there under most abnormal 
circumstances for the purposes of fratricidal war. 

Hankey is not the only witness on this point. In 
order that the evidence may be still more convincing 
we cite the following. Sherwood Eddy, after visiting 
the Western Front, wrote: 

The war, like a great searchlight thrown across our individ- 
ual and social lives, has revealed men and nations to them- 
selves It has shown us the real stuff of which men are 

made.^ 

Thomas Tiplady, whose service as a chaplain has 
issued in the production of two of the most illuminating 
books of the War, interpreting with wonderful sensitive- 
ness and skill the spirit of the British army, wrote: 

When one remembers that the prodigies of valour daUy seen on 
the Front are performed by just ordinary men, such as we used to 

'^A Student in Arms, Series 2, p. 29. Copyright by E. P. Dutton 
& Co., publishers. 

* With Our Soldiers in France, p. 129. Association Press. 



The Worth of Humanity 8i 

see on football grounds, or in city offices, workshops, and churches, 
a new faith in humanity and its future is begotten.'^ 

There is another witness, whose words are so con- 
vincing and whose spirit is so full of manly charm that 
his testimony becomes the most significant of all. Con- 
ingsb^^ Dawson was already master of an assured literary 
career in America when the War called him to volunteer 
in Canada for service overseas. His father writes con- 
cerning his spirit, revealed in his published letters: 

Hating the brutaUties of war, clearly perceiving the wide 
range of its cruelties, yet the heart of the writer is never hardened 
by its daily commerce with death; it is purified by pity and terror, 
by heroism and sacrifice, until the whole nature seems fresh 
annealed into a finer strength.^ 

Dr. Dawson also describes the soldiers in general: 

They know themselves re-bom in soul, and are dimly aware 
that the world is travailing toward new birth with them. They 
are stiU very human, men who end their letters with a row of 
crosses which stand for kisses. They are not dehiunanized by 
war; the kindness and tenderness of their natures are unspoiled 
by all their daily traffic in horror. But they have won their 
souls; and when the days of peace return these men will take with 
them to the civilian life a tonic strength and nobleness which will 
arrest and extirpate the decadence of society with the saving salt 
of valor and of faith.s 

These are interpretations, however, and are far 
less significant than the words of the writer himself, 
written down in letters that quite unconsciously and 
therefore all the more accurately reveal the changes 
wrought by the War in his own spiritual temper. 

^ The Cross at the Front, p. 146. Fleming H. Revell Co. 
^ Rev. W. J. Dawson, Introduction to Coningsby Dawson, Carry 
On, p. 8. Copyright by John Lane Co. 
ilbid., p. 17. 



82 The Gospel in the Light oj the Great War 

It is diflSicult to maintain proper reserve in the 
desire to quote from these reveahng pages. Only 
the following out of many paragraphs equally expressive 
are transcribed: 

Things are growing deeper with me in all sorts of ways. 
Family affections stand out so desirably and vivid, like meadows 
green after rain. And religion means more. The love of a few 
dear human people and the love of the divine people out of sight, 
are all that one has to lean on in the graver hours of life. I 
hope I come back again — I very much hope I come back again; 
there are so many finer things that I could do with the rest of my 
days — ^bigger things. But if by any chance I should cross the 
seas to stay, you'U know that that also wiU be right and as big 
as anything that I could do with life, and something that you'll 
be able to be just as proud about as if I had lived to fulfil aU your 

other dear hopes for me I've become a little child again ia 

God's hands, with full confidence in his love and wisdom, and a 
growing trust that whatever He decides for me wiU be best and 
kindest.^ 

Once more Mr. Dawson writes: 

This war is a prolonged moment of exultation for most of us — 
we are redeeming ourselves in our own eyes. To lay down one's 
life for one's friend once seemed impossible. All that is altered. 
We lay down our lives that the future generations may be good 
and kind, and so we can contemplate oblivion with quiet eyes." 

One more quotation from these letters contains a 
vivid reference which throws into clear relief the experi- 
ence of meeting the War's most urgent stress: 

You know how I used to wonder what I'd do under such 
circumstances [shell fire]. Well, I laughed. All I could think of 
was the sleek people walking down Fifth Avenue, and the equally 
sleek crowds taking tea at the Waldorf.^ 

^Rev. W. J. Dawson, Introduction to Coningsby Dawson, Carry 
on, p. 27. Copyright by John Lane Co. 

'Ibid., p. 132. 3 Ibid., p. 63. 



The Worth of Humanity ^t, 

The biting irony of this last reference is self-evident. 
In contrast with the reaHties and nobilities of the trenches 
the small talk and complaisant satisfactions of the 
Waldorf tea-sippers appear as contemptible as they 
really are. Surely the soul does not come into the 
heritage of its ultimate nobleness in such places. The 
trenches have called it into being. 

From these more elaborate pieces of literature let 
us turn to the newspapers to see what sort of stuff the 
Great War has shown in our homes and villages. On 
May 14, 1918, Lieutenant Harry D. Preston, a Chicago 
aviator in the Canadian service, lost his life in combat 
with German planes. When the news reached his 
mother this is what she said: "He died for the cause. 
I shall continue to live for it. Tomorrow I shall go about 
my Red Cross work as usual. " 

What a glorious spirit! Let no one think that it 
did not go along with the keenest suffering and intensest 
sense of loss. But it is the soul triumphant. The 
editorial writer in a Chicago paper remarked concerning 
the simple, brave words: *'It is the spirit of thousands, 
hundreds of thousands, of aching hearts in Europe. 
They have not grudged the great price." 

There is a most courageous and heroic incident 
narrated in the Red Cross Magazine for August, 191 8. 
An Italian woman whose son, Italo, had been killed 
sent a letter to an ofi&cer thanking him for his kindness. 
She could not write herself, and the letter was composed 
by her grandson. The last paragraph ran thus: 

Was it you, signer Captain, who gave my name to those 
gentlemen who came to bring me money because Italo was dead ? 
It was not from pride, not to mortify anyone, but I could not take 



84 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

it. You see, for me to take that money would be like having sold 
my son. I have given my son. 

The person who can read that w^ith no choke in 
the throat and with dry eyes has lost something which 
is more precious than anything else on earth. ^ The 
editor put this caption to the incident: "She Could 
Not Write, But What a Soul!" 

How, then, are we to preach regarding humanity? 
The doctrines of total depravity and original sin are 
in the realm of theology; but they have a mighty 
warrant behind them in the conscious experience of 
men who struggle with sin. For the preacher, how- 
ever, these are not the final facts. Sin becomes dreadful 
because it ruins man, who is intrinsically so noble. 
As we shall see later, we are winning a new conception 
of sin, more vivid and compelling than any that has ever 
guided the preacher; but the background for this is a 
new consciousness of the worth of humanity to God and 
to itself. Out of this idea grows our appeal for a Savior 
and for the new life in Christ. We begin with this truth; 
we do not stop there. But as we master the new ideal 
of human worth we discover fresh joy and power in the 
Christian message. 

Suggestions fob. Sermons on the Worth or Humanity 

SUGGESTION I 

"Yet now is our flesh as the flesh of our brethren, our children 
as their children : and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our 
daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought 
into bondage already: neither is it in our power to help it; for 
other men have our fields and our vineyards" (Neh. 5:5). 



The Worth of Humanity 85 

THE WORTH OF A MAN 

The circumstances: Economic slavery. Nehemiah's anger. 

I. Master and servant, usurer and debtor, are one. 
a) Same physical bodies. 

h) Same common hopes and struggles, 
c) Same death. 

II. Economic subjection makes slaves. 

a) No ambition. 

b) No progress possible. 

c) Greater loss constantly "to him that hath not." 

III. This bondage must be broken. Restoration imperative 
(vs. 11). 

a) First, the means of life. 
h) Then the people would restore themselves. 

SUGGESTION 2 
"And God said, Let us make man in our image" (Gen, i : 27). 

THE MAJESTY OE MAN 

What is it to "bear the image of the heavenly" ? 
I, Our mental Hfe, We are able to think God's thoughts after 
him. The quest of knowledge is the effort to reach God's 
mind. 

II. Our moral life. We discover the right and seek it in corre- 
spondence with the moral will of God. The only reason why 
we should be holy is because God is holy. 

III. Our spiritual life. We yearn for the perfect and seek it 
through struggle and pain. Our spiritual goal is to be like 
God, to see him as he is. 

SUGGESTION 3 

"Elnow ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the spirit 
of God dwelleth in you ? If any man destroyeth the temple of 
God, hun shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, and 
such are ye" (I Cor. 3:16, 17). 



86 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

god's temple is man 

Treat this proposition according to the analogy of a temple, 
for example: 
I. The place of the temple in the community. 
II. The preservation of the temple. 

III. The use of the temple. 

IV. The Deity in the temple. 



SUGGESTION 4 

"And a man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and 
a covert from the tempest, as streams of water in a dry place, as 
the shade of a great rock in a weary land" (Isa. 32:2). 

"how good is man's life" 

This text has been handled with a degree of insight and com- 
prehensiveness which leaves nothing more to be said by George 
Adam Smith, Isaiah (I, 251-57). His outline is as follows: 
I. A philosophy of history. 
II. A great gospel. 
III. A great ideal and duty. 

SUGGESTION 5 
Exposition of Luke 15: 11-32. 

THE lost boy 

The parable of the Prodigal Son is a most appropriate subject 
for preaching today. It was one of the great factors in the pulpit 
ministry of Phillips Brooks. This lost lad was worth so much! 
He was still the father's son, however he was debauching and 
despising his birthright in the far country. And when he reaUy 
discovered his true self he saw that he was heart-hungry for home. 
So many lads are away from home now and in places of peril that 
the familiar parable is more vital in the pulpit than ever before. 
Handle it with the sense of the worth of the lost boy in the fore- 
front of your thinking. 



The Worth of Humanity 87 

SUGGESTION 6 

"What is man, that thou art mindful of him ? 
For thou hast made him but little lower than God " (Ps. 8 :4, 5). 

EXALTED LOWLINESS 

I. The majestic heavens. 
II. The mighty God. 

III. Exalted man. His power over nature; his moral insight; 
his quest of ideal ends; his immortal destiny. 

SUGGESTION 7 

"How much then is a man of more value than a sheep?" 
(Matt. 12:12). 

MARKET VALUES 

Introduction. Need of a new scale of values. 
I. How men regard sheep. 
II. How men regard men. 
III. How God regards sheep and men. 

SUGGESTION 8 
"The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon" (Judg. 7:20). 

A TWO-HANDED SWORD 

I. God and man worked together: there was one sword for both. 
II. Thus God's will was done through human means. 
III. Thus human hands were strengthened by divine aid. 
Use as an illustration 

"If my hand slacked 
I should rob God .... 

He could not make Antonio Stradivari's violins 
Without Antonio. " 



CHAPTER VII 
"THE EVERLASTING REALITY OF RELIGION" 

This significant phrase was used by John Fiske^ 
to denote that indelible faculty of the human soul 
which, laying hold upon God, makes reHgion an integral 
and potent factor in human Hfe. It is the same truth 
that Augustine recognized in his matchless sentence,^ 
"Thou hast made us, God, for thyself, and our souls 
are not at rest until they rest in thee. " 

Religion in its elementary and durable character, 
reUgion as personal relationship between the soul and 
God realized in social morality as well as in ritual 
and adoration, has been affirmed and vitalized in camp, 
and trench, and fleet, and hospital as never before. To 
recognize and affirm this is the preacher's opportunity 
in this age of constructive endeavor. Preaching now 
may concern itself anew with the reality and power of 
religion. 

Certain fundamental distinctions ought to be made 
clear, however. Religion, the Kingdom of God, Christian- 
ity, and the church are not identical terms. They are 
often used as if they were equivalents. Let us make 
them distinct in our thinking and preaching. 

Religion is the broadest term and includes the re- 
lation between the soul and Deity, together with aU the 
results in practical Hfe that flow from it. This may come 

^ Through Nature to God, pp. 133-86. 
'Confessions, i. i. 



'^The Everlasting Reality of Religion''^ 89 

to expression in organized forms or become institution- 
alized in a religion, like Judaism or Christianity. We 
believe that the most complete expression of religion is 
Christianity, 

The Kingdom of God is the ideal which Jesus 
announced as good news and with which his teaching 
was concerned. It is a body of truth rather than an 
institution, yet it lies with creative power behind the 
forms of Christianity. We are returning to this ideal 
with new insistence, and it will doubtless function with 
fresh power in the re-making of the world through Chris- 
tian forces. 

Christianity is a comprehensive term embracing all 
the forms in which the ideal of the Kingdom of God is 
expressed. The doctrines, the deeds, the worship, 
the ethics, the programs of the Christian religion, are 
embraced here. Christianity and the Christian religion 
may fairly be used as synonyms. 

The Christian church is more concrete and specific. 
It may be regarded in many aspects. Most concisely 
it consists of the fellowship of all those whose master- 
motives are identical with those of Jesus Christ. It is 
the "organism of Christ," that is, it is the union in 
spirit of all those who are in vital contact with the living 
Christ. Objectively this includes the institutions of 
Christianity; subjectively it is an invisible fellowship, 
a union in spiritual endeavor. 

These four concepts are distinct enough for all 
practical purposes and should be kept clear in our 
thinking and speaking. The following principles and 
suggestions are arranged under the heads just enumer- 
ated. 



90 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

a) Religion. — What have the soldiers been thinking 
and saying about the reality and power of religion in the 
war? What testimony is forthcoming from the re- 
ligious workers among the soldiers and sailors ? There 
are two main lines of testimony: the first comes from the 
letters of soldiers, the second is contained in the judg- 
ments of the chaplains. 

The editor of the significant volume Faith or Fear? 
assures us that the Great War has brought religion into 
the actual life of the men with a new power and reality. 
He says: 

There never surely was a time when a deeper interest was 
being taken in religion, when men were seeking more eagerly for 
that sure foothold among the changes and chances of this mortal 

life which a vital religion alone can give The one subject 

which really interests every thoughtful person is religion. "^ 

The possibility of talking about religion without a 
sense of unnaturalness or intrusion is greater than it 
was four years ago. One hears more frank and fair- 
minded talk on this subject in the Pullman cars than was 
the case before the war. This is not due to any sudden 
interest in any particular form of religious activity. It 
results from the influence of the world-situation upon the 
minds of men. 

This has been put concretely by Professor D. S. 
Cairns, as follows: 

One cannot help noting a new depth and earnestness in men's 
minds. The presence of death, sorrow, and pain, the sense of being 
in the grasp of forces far too great for man to control, is awakening 
the primitive rehgious sense in man. The feeling of his own 
helplessness is making him call out for God.^ 

^ Editor's Preface, p. 3. 

' Christ and the World at War, p. 41. Copyright by the Pilgrim 
Press, publishers. 



^^The Everlasting Reality of Religion" 91 

We turn instinctively to H. G. Wells at this point. 
His confidence in what he calls the "renascent religion"^ 
of today is so strong that it carries weight even beyond 
the Convincing force of his argument. Mr. Wells has all 
the joy of a crusader as he declares for the day of religious 
awakening into which we have come. His readers feel 
the quiver of exultation in his words, as, for example : 

There is not a nation nor a city in the globe where men are 
not being urged at this moment by the spirit of God in them 
toward the discovery of God. This is not an age of despair but 
an age of hope in Asia as in all the world besides.^ 

But it is more illuminating to turn to those who have 
had actual experience at the Front with the soldiers. 
In general, chaplains and leaders of Young Men's 
Christian Associations agree that there was a deep and 
genuine religion pervasive among the soldiers. It may 
not have been formal, it may not have been distinctively 
Christian, so far as it came to definition, but by every 
right use of the word it was real and tangible rehgion. 

We discover varying degrees of confidence in the re- 
ports. Donald Hankey, in his well-known chapter "The 
Rehgion of the Inarticulate," is somewhat more clear and 
decided in judgment than is Sherwood Eddy, who says: 

Most of them [the soldiers] believe in God, although they do 
not know Him in a personal way. They believe in religion, but 

have not made it vital and dominant in their lives [God] 

is looked upon, however, not as one whom they are to seek first, 
but rather as a last resort ; not as a present Father and constant 
Friend, but as One to whom they can turn in time of need.^ 

^God the Invisible King, pp. 3-5. Copyright by the Pilgrim Press, 
publishers. 

^ Ibid., p. 160. 

3 With Our Soldiers in France, p. 144. Copyright by the Association 
press, publishers. 



92 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

The letters of the men themselves are naturally 
reserved, but they bear witness to the religious purpose 
and passion of their writers more fully than would per- 
haps be expected at first thought. The following are a few 
among the many expressions of religious feeling which 
have appeared in the published letters of soldiers. Many 
more might be cited, but these are representative: 

A brilliant young officer in a far-away training camp recently 
wrote home, out of his soul's struggle, in view of the horrible thing 
war is to a fine nature: "I think I'm more religious since I've been 
here, more really religious, than ever before. In the first place, 
I've been thinking a good deal about it. And then, I suppose, 
I'm living a more normal life in a way. No use talking, being 
busy outdoors brings a man closer to his Maker. And then, 
presumptuous as it may seem, I feel as though I begin to see a 
little way into the inscrutability of this war and the great power 
of God keeping watch above his own. "^ 

In the brief introduction to a selection from the 
letters of Captain Andre Cornet- Auquier the editor says: 

Also like so many of the French soldiers, and contrary to 
popular belief, this young French captain is deeply religious. His 
faith is unwavering, and he says with him prayer is a "constant 
state. " But if any one thinks his piety interferes with his gaiety, 
he is mistaken. "How I make them laugh, " he writes in one let- 
ter. He quotes the rules and regulations for the Grand Hotel of 
the Trenches, how they must not leave the gas burning, nor carry 
off the sandbags, nor lean out of the windows, nor, especially, 
have anything to do with the rival concern over the way.^ 

Among the men whose experiences have been fas- 
cinating by virtue of their daring and endurance is 

^ Knight, War-Time "Over Here, " p. 48. Copyright by the Pilgrim 
Press, publishers. 

* The Good Soldier (1918), p. 49. 



"The Everlasting Reality of Religion''^ 93 

Lieutenant Pat O'Brien. In an article from his pen 
occurs the following bit of interesting testimony: 

People ask me what I have got out of the war; what, if any- 
thing, I have gained from all the experiences I went through. I 
hadn't analyzed it at first, but now I think I know. All of us 
who have been over there have come back with a more serious 
outlook on life than we used to have. I was what I suppose you 
would caU an individualist — and I was the individual! I thought 
chiefly of my fim, my happiness, my pleasures. 

But I've learned that life is something more than a happy-go- 
lucky adventure. Perhaps going through some hardships of my 
own has made me more sensitive to suffering in others. I know 
what it is to be hungry, to be lonely, to be in physical pain. Seeing 
men's lives snuffed out in a moment can't help affecting your own 
attitude toward life and death. 

The boys who have been over there have a new feeling about 
religion, even though they may not talk much about it. I 
know I see feUows going to church now who, I am certain, never 
used to go there. Someone asked me the other day if I ever 
thought of praying when I was in a fight in the air. Yes, I did! 
It is so instinctive that it seems to me pretty good proof that there 
is a Supreme Being to whom we naturally turn.^ 

Along with these letters and comments may be placed 
numerous editorials, especially in the daily press, which 
is quick to discover and evaluate the significant move- 
ments of thought and action throughout the world. A 
signed editorial by William A. McKeever, January 21, 
1 91 8, is typical. The name of the paper is unfortu- 
nately cut away from the clipping: 

The great war is laying bare the real heart of humanity and 
revealing in a startling manner the fact that aU the great elemental 
things of hxmian nature are the common property of every race 
and tribe vmder the sun. So with rehgion. 

^American Magazine, June, 1918. 



94 The Gospel In the Light of the Great War 

The story keeps coming to us from the more reliable quarters 
that under the desperation of fighting and dying together in the 
trenches men of all creeds and no creed at all cry out to God in 
the same simple and primitive ways; that at this particular time 
creeds and ceremonials pale into insignificance, while Jew and 
Gentile, Greek and Hindu, find a new and satisfying bond of fellow- 
ship with their Maker and with one another. 

"When the millions of battle-scarred troops come back from 
the trenches they are going to have their own way about many of 
the great human problems which are being tested out for the first 
time through blood and agony, " says a weU-known war correspond- 
ent. "I never before understood the meaning of such words as 
comradeship and worship till I saw the boys dying together in 
the trenches. A new era of religion is coming which will not have 
less of God in it, but it will contain far more of the element of 
human fellowship and patient tolerance than has ever been known 
on the earth. " 

Thus we have a suggestion of the approaching task of training 
the young religiously. First, there will appear the necessity of 
inculcating religion, not as merely a means of salvation, but in 
response to a great fundamental human need. Second, there will 
be a growing indifference with what church or what creed the 
young individual becomes affiliated. One will choose his church 
much as he now is expected to select his vocation, in answer to the 
call from within and the convenience from without. Third, there 
will arise the necessity of bridging over from the old to the new, of 
teaching the young generation to forget the intolerance which has 
been a long-standing habit of their elders. 

Finally, not a person's badge of church membership, or pro- 
fession of faith, but the genuineness of his daily life — this is what 
we are to point out to our children as evidence of true religion. 

The simple and palpable tests will include such character- 
istics as universal human sympathies, a desire for common fel- 
lowship, a consciousness to put away the "sins of the flesh" by 
whatever rule there may be invoked, a deep humility and resigna- 
tion in the face of Ufe's great tragedies, a progressive tendency to 
look for the Image of the Divine in the character of innocent 
childhood, and a supreme joy in assisting little ones to grow into 
His full Heavenly Likeness. 



'^The Everlasting Reality of Religion'' 95 

No, do not be alarmed. This trench religion will not serve to 
break down the churches, but only to unify, to humanize, and more 
completely to spiritualize them. 

When one proceeds to analyze these reports and esti- 
mates, religion appears in at least three aspects clarified 
by the War and potent in an age of reconstruction. 

Real religion is seen to be a greater fact and force 
than ever before. It is not an accidental matter; it 
is the chief concern of life. A small and narrow age 
may not have required a great religion; but this world 
of titanic energies, international conflicts, and massed 
movements, such as never have been known before, 
calls for a rehgion that shall be vast enough to embrace 
them all. As Dr. Harry E. Fosdick says: 

As one thinks of the world today, shaken in an earthquake 
that brings clattering down about our ears the dearest dreams our 
hearts have cherished, it does seem that religion should grow great 
to meet her crisis and opportunity and, casting aside the Uttle- 
ness that in calmer days might find excuse, ought to speak great 
words about God and the Kingdom, lest men's hearts turn to 
water in them and their strength be gone.^ 

Then we are aware of the reality of religion. It is 
not something artificial or assumed, not something re- 
mote from life, but part and parcel of its very substance. 
Religion has come down from the clouds to dwell among 
men; it is the preacher's new task to insist that it re- 
main there. Just as the physical powers have a real 
world to which they correspond and in the constant 
relationship to which the physical life consists, so the 
spiritual faculties find their satisfaction in connection 
with actual spiritual realities. The soul is as much a 

^ The Challenge of the Present Crisis, p. 90. Copyright by the Asso- 
ciation Press, publishers. 



96 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

part of personality as are the hands or the feet, and the 
engagements of religion are as real and necessary as is 
the provision of food or the laying of brick walls. The 
preacher is talking about realities. Never let that truth 
be lost from the minister's working consciousness. 

A third fact apparent in this testimony from the War 
is the actual power of real religion to bear men up and 
make them brave and patient. Religion actually 
works. It makes a man courageous and cheerful and 
loyal. Subjected pitilessly to the pragmatic test, re- 
ligion is seen to get results in personal character and in 
group relationships. Instead of religion being something 
held in reserve by which to die, it is seen to be something 
amply employed by which to live. There is strength in 
it. It has not failed in the critical hours. 

Suggestions for Sermons on Religion 

The first point to be considered is the universal and 
inevitable necessity for a religion of some kind on the 
part of every individual and race. This cannot be 
avoided; it is wrought into the very constitution of man. 
This appears often in the Bible. 

suggestion I 

"When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, 
Thy face, Jehovah, will I seek" (Ps. 27:8). 

THE soul's answer TO GOD 

Religion is the reaction of the soul to the impulse of God. 
This truth insures the naturalness and the permanence of religion. 
Two lines of discussion are opened by the text: 
I. How has God spoken ? 
II. How can we answer ? 



"The Everlasting Reality of Religion^' 97 

SUGGESTION 2 
"The work of the law written in their hearts" (Rom. 2:15). 

' AN INDELIBLE RELIGION 

Use the testimony of the soldiers, an example of which is the 
evidence of Lieutenant Pat O'Brien, to show how man is "in- 
curably religious." He turns to God instinctively in any time of 
trial, Hke the homing bees. 

SUGGESTION 3 

"I found also an altar with this inscription, To an Unknown 
God. What therefore ye worship in ignorance, this I set forth 
unto you" (Acts 17:23). 

A GREAT DISCOVERY 

Note the meaning of "very religious" in verse 22. In order 
that there might be no deity overlooked someone had erected an 
altar to a god without a name. 

This religious background permits the revelation of God in 
Christ. The "Unknown God" may be known as the God and 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This gives opportunity for a 
straight gospel message. 

Having shown that religion is essential and vital to all men, 
the modern pulpit must present the outline of a real and efficient 
faith. The Old Testament is rich in material. The following are 
examples: 

SUGGESTION 4 

"And now, Israel, what doth Jehovah thy God require of thee, 
but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love 
him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all 
thy soul" (Deut. 10:12). 

THE OUTLINE OF A TRUE FAITH 

I. Reverence. 
II. Obedience. 

III. Love. 

IV. Service. 



98 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

SUGGESTION 5 

"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth 
Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, 
and to walk humbly with thy God ?" (Mic. 6:8). 

REAL RELIGION 

Set out the historical situation revealed by the text : 
I. The use of ceremonies and sacrifices to express religion; 

their failure. 
II. The necessity of justice, love, and a reverent life. 

The danger of trying adequately to express religion in forms 
and ceremonies alone, or to comprehend it in doctrines and institu- 
tions, ought to be shown clearly in modern preaching. 

SUGGESTION 6 
"And he called it Nehushtan" (II Kings 18:4). 

IMAGE-BREAKING 

Compare Num. 21:8, 9. As the years passed this symbol, 
which had once stood for the love and power of God shown to the 
people in a time of distress, had grown to be an object of base and 
formal idolatry. The symbol had usurped the place of that which 
it represented. Therefore the time came when a man with power 
and discernment must break it in pieces and call it what it truly 
was, "a piece of brass." Such times of fearless, uncompromising 
dealing with religious situations call for wise, courageous leaders. 

SUGGESTION 7 

"For thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it: 
Thou hast no pleasure in burnt-oflfering. 
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: 
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise " 

(Ps. 51: 16, 17). 



^'The Everlasting Reality oj Religion^' 99 

THE SACiariCE THAT GOD HONORS 

The value of this suggestion depends upon the interpretation 
of "broken spirit." This does not mean a weak or spiritless life. 
A contrite heart or a broken spirit means a soul from which all 
pride and boasting have been taken away, and which is ready to 
be used in any service which wiU honor God. It is like the life 
"already being poured out as a drink-offering," concerning which 
the writer could say confidently, "I have fought the good fight, 
I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" (II Tim. 4:6, 7). 

SUGGESTION 8 
"But so did not I, because of the fear of God" (Neh. 5:15). 

THE FAITH THAT TRANSFORMS 

Here is a man who rose above the practice of his time. He 
gives the reason for his success: his rehgion appeared in the form 
of power. 
I. The prevalence of graft. 
II. The practice of Nehemiah. 

III. Grounds for his practice: civic S3Tnpathy (vs. 19); personal 
religion (vs. 15). 

SUGGESTION 9 

"And he did that which was evil, because he set not his heart 
to seek Jehovah" (II Chron. 12:14). 

"And as long as he sought Jehovah, God made him to prosper" 
(II Chron. 26:5). 

RELIGION AND CONDUCT 

Here are two brief records of the power of religion to create 
character and assure success. In each case religion "works." 
There is intimate relationship between a man's relation to God and 
the practical fife of every day. 

h) The Kingdom of God. — We have seen that the 
reality and power of religion have been brought into 



loo The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

new clearness by the Great War. Another point to be 
emphasized is the new meaning that is being discovered 
in the great ideal of the Kingdom of God as Jesus taught 
it and as it has been slowly growing into the consciousness 
of the Christian people. The modern minister must 
study again the broad outlines of the Kingdom and be 
ready to present them to an age that will demand a 
positive program for the social realization of whatever 
religion is approved as best. It has been put in this way 
in a volume of recent sermons: 

For all the nations, and not the least our own, we have to ask 
what is the great antagonistic force which can hold the field 
against evil, enduring it, resisting it, overcoming it. There is 
no answer but one. That force is the Kingdom of God upon earth, 
the force which He revealed and wielded, the force which has as 
its sign the sign of strength in weakness, the sign of a long and 
enduring patience, the sign of the cross, the force which has its 
spring in love coming out from God, who is love, to find expression 
in the life of men. Nothing else will do instead of this, not 
civilization nor culture, for evil may turn each and all of these 
into its agent and its instrument. It is the force of the Kingdom 
which the gospel proclaims.^ 

Jesus began his public ministry with the declaration 
that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. This was 
not "preaching" in the modern sense of the word; that 
is, Jesus did not prepare a formal statement of the truth, 
which he delivered orally as a part of an order of common 
religious worship. Jesus came as a "herald" and he 
presented his truth with the freedom of a happy messen- 
ger bearing good news to a waiting people. Hence 
the form in which the message was given was simple 
and direct and spontaneous. 

^ Christ and the World at War, pp. 31,32. Copyright by the Pilgrim 
Press, publishers. 



^'The Everlasting Reality of Religion^' loi 

Preachers have been interested in many subjects, 
which they have studied and discussed faithfully, with 
profit to their hearers; but there can be no doubt that 
they have lacked the urgency, the passion, and the 
directness that come from the conviction and kindling 
emotion of the soul when it feels itself charged with a 
real message to a group of hearers. The good news 
concerning the Kingdom of God, as Jesus declared it, 
was a message of this kind. Our expectant time calls 
for such a word from the preacher, who will move 
it to nobler moods and a holier passion. 

In concisest statement, the message of the Kingdom 
of God is the proclamation of God's reign in all the life 
of the world. It means that humanity belongs to God, 
and that God has the right to claim all the complex 
sphere of human life as his Kingdom. There is a supreme 
will of love for the world, and the principle of good-will 
is to sway all human affairs. This, in briefest compass, 
is the doctrine of the Kingdom of God. 

In an age when our thought is turned so exclusively 
to democracy is it possible to think of God's relation 
to the world under the analogy of a kingdom ? Would 
it not be better to speak of the repubhc of God ? Or, 
better still, taking the name that Jesus used for God and 
calKng him the Father, is it not better to think of the 
family of God, construing the Christian reHgion under 
the dear and famihar concept of home life ? 

Granted that the thought of kingship does not fall 
so closely into our democratic thinking as we would Hke, 
still it seems better to keep to the analogy that Jesus 
used, remembering its limitation and seeking always 
not to press the details of regal sovereignty too exactly 
into the interpretation. 



102 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War - 

A series of sermons, however, interpreting Christian 
truth according to the analogy of the family would 
probably be profitable both to the preacher and to 
the congregation, for there are many fresh and stimu- 
lating suggestions that could be developed in such a 
study. 

Suggestions for Sermons on the Kingdom of God 

suggestion i 

"Repent ye; for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 
3:1). 

THE MORAL IMPERATIVE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

This is a part of the message of John the Baptizer. It is 

still an imperative to our time. 

I. The righteous will of the King defines the law of the Kingdom. 

II. The citizens of the Kingdom must therefore be righteous. 

III. The call of the Kingdom is therefore a summons to repentance 

and new moral Ufe. 

SUGGESTION 2 

"From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent 
ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 4:17). 

THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

This is an outline study of the figure which Jesus used to 
bring his first message to the people. An analogy is one of the 
most difficult forms in which to express a truth, for it is bound to 
break down at some point if it is pressed too far. Therefore the 
central idea in the figure must be kept clear and minor details 
subordinated to it. 
I. The authority of the Kingdom. 
II. The laws of the Kingdom. 

III. The citizens of the Kingdom. 

IV. The King and his personal sway. 



"The Everlasting Reality of Religion^' 103 

SUGGESTION 3 

"The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman 
took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened" 
(Matt. 13:33). 

THE YEAST OF LOVE AND TRUTH 

This is a study in the process and power of fermentation. The 
germs of the Kingdom of God, the chief of which are love and truth, 
are placed in the world and are gradually transforming it. 
I. The world, which is completely to be changed by the Kingdom. 
II. The yeast, which is a living power. 

III. The process, which involves contact for its realization, works 
silently and steadily by the methods of life, and in the end 
reaches every particle of the mass. 

SUGGESTION 4 

"And he called to him a little child, and set him in the midst 
of them, and said. Verily I say unto you. Except ye turn, and be- 
come as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom 
of heaven" (Matt. 18:2, 3). 

THE GATES TO THE KINGDOM 

Note the incident: The disciples were wrangling about their 
supremacy in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus gave them an 
object-lesson. He called a lad (not a baby) to come to his side. 
The boy obeyed. He must have considered Jesus a friend whom 
he could trust. Then Jesus said. You must enter the Kingdom like 
this, that is, through three gates: 
I. Love. The boy must have cared for Jesus. 
II. Trust. The boy was willing to trust Jesus. 
III. Obedience. The boy obeyed Jesus. 

c) Christianity. — Considered in the broadest sense 
of the term, has Christianity passed through any essen- 
tial modification in the process of the Great War ? At 
the beginning one often heard the judgment that the 



I04 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

War marked the collapse of the Christian religion. Cer- 
tainly it did not prevent the War, nor was it able in 
any essential degree to mitigate its horrors. The 
inspiration and sanction of Christianity undoubtedly 
lay behind all the noble and beneficent work of the Red 
Cross and similar agencies for the relief of suffering. 
But the terrible business of the War itself went on in 
spite of all the teachings and ideals of Christianity. 

Does this mean, however, that the Great War came 
because of Christianity or in spite of it ? Certainly no 
one would claim that it is on account of Christianity that 
the War was begun or continued. Indeed the fairest 
judgment of all is that the very existence of the War 
simply proves that Christianity never has been tried. The 
War itself was a mighty challenge to give the Christian 
reUgion a real opportunity to show what its message and 
power were. 

We are warranted, therefore, in saying that the Great 
War gave Christianity a supreme opportunity to prove 
its power in furnishing the spiritual motives for the 
work of reconstruction. There never has been a time 
in which the Christian religion could be expected to 
perform its functions with such effectiveness as in this 
very era when the new ideals and institutions are to be 
shaped. 

In one respect at least it is clear that the War in- 
fluenced our conception of Christianity. It simplified 
it and revealed its essential content. Donald Hankey 
puts the matter in this way: 

The most perfect form of Christianity is just the abiding 
sense of loyalty to a divine Master — the abiding sense of the 
dramatic which never loses sight of the Master's figure, and which 



^^The Everlasting Reality of Religion" 105 

continually enables a man to see himself in the role of the 
trusted and faithful disciple, so that he is always trying to live 
up to his part."^ 

Thus we are coming to construe the Christian re- 
ligion as essentially the religion of Jesus. This means 
not only the religion that Jesus himself made real in his 
own experience, but also that religion which finds Jesus 
an object upon whom its faith may rest and in whom its 
trust may be placed. 

Of course this reduces to the sphere of the nonessential 
many elements in institutional Christianity which often 
have been regarded as of its very substance. To accept 
such a shrinkage will be difficult, especially for those who 
have been of&cially charged with the preservation of 
denominational watchwords. But such a change must 
be faced fearlessly. No values will be surrendered that 
may not be yielded with satisfaction by anyone who has 
discovered the new interpretation of Christianity which 
has been wrought by the War. 

Suggestions for Sermons on Christianity 

At first glance it might seem as if the New Testament 
would abound in texts and subjects on the Christian 
religion. But the definitions of Christianity came after 
the New Testament books had assumed their fixed form, 
and adequate texts do not appear as abundantly as they 
would be expected if this were not the case. The follow- 
ing are appropriate, however. 

SUGGESTION I 

"Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, beUeve 
also in me" (John 14: i). 

^A Student in Arms, Series i, p. 177. Copyright by E. P, Button 
& Co., publishers. 



to6 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

THE FAITH THAT COMFORTS 

I. The God and Father of Jesus Christ and what it means to 

beheve in him. 
II. Jesus Christ the Lord and what it means to beheve in him. 
III. The practical results of this twofold faith. 

SUGGESTION 2 

"Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of 
Christ" (Phil. 1:27). 

CITIZENS OF THE GOSPEL 

Note the margin, "behave as citizens worthily." 
I. The privileges of gospel citizenship. 
II. The laws of gospel citizenship. 
III. The service of gospel citizenship. 

SUGGESTION 3 

"And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which 
I say?" (Luke 6:46). 

THE TWOFOLD TEST 

Christianity must have its standards. They are set forth 
here by Jesus himself: 
I. The test of faith. We must render allegiance to Christ. 

In our minds and hearts Jesus must become Lord. 
II. The test of action. We must square our creed to our deed. 

Conduct must follow conviction. We must do what Jesus 

says when we have accepted him as Master. 

Note. — ^The distinctive faith of Christianity is dealt with 
more fully in chapter ix, where other sermon suggestions are 
given. 

d) The Christian church.— The Great War brought 
the Christian church forward as a subject of criticism 
and an object of loyalty at the same time. On the one 
hand it has been exalted, on the other it has been dis- 
paraged and censured. 



'^The Everlasting Reality of Religion^' 107 

H. G. Wells disposes of the whole matter of the church 
in a sentence, solving the problem by a snap of the 
finger in a style peculiarly Wellsian. He says: "The 
church with its sacraments and its sacerdotalism is 
the disease of Christianity. "^ A slapdash judgment Uke 
that solves no problems and makes no contribution to 
the constructive program of reHgion. Mr. Wells may 
be honest in his judgment, but it is superficial. 

Turning to other observers and fairer critics, we 
find Mr. Sherwood Eddy saying: 

"The men simply have no time for it [the church]. They do 
not care for the church because it does not care for them. " There 
is a general feeling that. the churches do not understand them or 
sympathize with the social and industrial disabilities of the men. 
They feel that the ideals of life for which the church stands are 
dull, dim, and altogether unnatural; its standard of comfort and 
complacent respectability makes no appeal to them, and they have 
no part or lot in it.^ 

There is nothing especially new in this judgment, 
nor is it peculiar to the soldiers. Such opinions might 
have been heard broadly and freely expressed before the 
War began. Probably this was the general verdict 
with the great majority of industrial workers. But it 
brings a certain sense of disheartenment when we know 
that the soldiers also entertained this idea. 

We turn to Tiplady for an expression of opinion 
concerning the attitude of the soldiers toward the church 
and read as follows: 

But while they connect their belief in the Christian virtues 
with Christ, they do not — the bulk of them — connect these virtues 

^God the Invisible King, p. 153. Copyright by the Macmillan Co., 
publishers. 

^ With Our Soldiers in France, p. 152. Copyright by the Association 
Press, publishers. 



io8 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

with the church. Christ is a "White Man," but they suspect 
the ordinary churchgoing Christian of being but a whitewashed 
man. Scratch him, and they fear the white will come ofif.^ 

While this is in general accord with the judgment of 
Mr. Eddy, there is a significant item involved in it 
that is worth brief consideration. The soldier does 
not connect with the church the standards or the virtues 
which he approves because he has not seen these qualities 
exemplified in the daily life of the men who are connected 
with the churches. The difficulty does not lie, therefore, 
in the way in which the standards of Christian character 
have been exemplified in the personal example of Christ 
or have been presented by the preachers. The failure 
lies with the members of the churches, who have not made 
good with those standards in their own conduct. Thus 
the primary responsibility in this case seems to lie not 
with the preachers, but with the laymen. The trouble 
will be corrected by a change in the average level of 
Christian conduct on the part of the churchgoing people. 

But if this is the case, it surely indicates that preach- 
ers must present this situation to their people and urge 
upon them the necessity of such consistency between 
their creeds and their deeds as shall restore the church to a 
new place in the confidence of those whose interest and 
loyalty have suffered most serious lapse. This does 
not mean that the pulpit must give itself to a new 
emphasis upon ethical questions merely, but it does de- 
mand of preachers that they show their people plainly 
the need of closer connection between faith and conduct. 

Donald Hankey's criticism of the church rests 
mainly on the ground that, instead of giving first atten- 

^ The Cross at the Front, p. 75. Copyright by Fleming H. Revell 
Co., publishers. 



"The Everlasting Reality of Religion^' 109 

tion to the gospel (which is "simply the imitation of 

Christ"), she is so occupied with a host of other questions 

and accidental duties that no time remains for leading 

men to live as Jesus did/ 

But there is another side to the discussion. In spite 

of their criticism, of the failure of the church the men in 

the camps and armies have great faith in the future of 

the Christian institutions if only they can understand 

their opportunity and meet their responsibiUty. Donald 

Hankey puts the case for the church in this way: 

These [fighting] men will return from their experience of hard- 
ship and danger, pain and death, in a far more serious frame of 
mind than that in which they set out. Then, if ever, will they 
be wiUtng to listen if the churches have any vital message for them, 
any interpretation to offer of their experiences, any ideal of a prac- 
tical and inspiring kind to point to. If the churches miss that 
opportunity, woe betide them!^ 

Tiplady's judgment coincides with this so closely 

that it ought to be read alongside. He says : 

After the war the church will have a new and supreme oppor- 
tunity — the finest history has provided. But it must prepare for 
it; and the only adequate preparation is a fresh study of the life 
and teaching of Christ .^ 

Here is a profitable method of preparation to meet 
the new opportunity which the writer sees opening before 
the church at the close of the War. Tiplady makes an- 
other suggestion worth considering at this point. It is 
as follows: 

Does the church love ? When a mother loves, though she be a 
queen, she becomes interested in soap and water, sheets and 
blankets, boots and clothing, and many other mundane things. 

^ Faith or Fear? p. 29. Copyright by Macmillan & Co. 

^A Student in Arms, Series i, p. 196. Copyright by E. P. Dutton 
& Co., publishers. 

3 The Cross at the Front, p. 107. Copyright by Fleming H. Revell 
Co., publishers. 



no The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

And when the church loves she will have something to say about 
rents and wages, houses and workshops, food and clothing, gar- 
dens, drains, medicine, and many other things. Where is the 
church's mother-love ? Where is her fierce mother-wrath as she 
sees the children trampled in the mire ? It is easy to go to church 
and to abstain from drinking, swearing, and gambling, but it is not 
easy to love.^ 

What light do these judgments and conclusions 
throw upon the task of the minister in the new day? 
He must continue to be, as he has been in the past, the 
ofl&cial head of the church as the institution of the Chris- 
tian religion in the world and as the means by which the 
Kingdom of God is to be realized among men. He will 
be free to criticize the church in all honesty and affection; 
but he will be convinced of its mission and worth and 
will lead it without divided or grudging devotion into 
its great field of community service. His work as 
preacher will be only a part of his larger responsibility 
as minister. The preparation of his sermon will be only 
a fraction of his painstaking labor as the leader of the 
public worship of the congregation. This does not mean 
that he will disparage his sermon or give less time to its 
preparation; but he never will make it an end in itself, 
and he will estimate its value by the way it serves the 
purpose of public worship. The sermon which fits 
the needs of the age of rebuilding will be prepared in 
view of the thought and yearning that has been created 
by the War. The psychological factors in preaching must 
be given new consideration, since the message, which is 
the heart of the sermon, must meet the standards and the 
spirit of the living men and women to whom it is given. 

'^The Cross at the Front, p. 107. Copyright by Fleming H. Revell 
Co., publishers. 



"The Everlasting Reality of Religion'''' iii 

There must be new frankness and freedom in facing 
the issues of real life in preaching. Old theological 
and ecclesiastical discussions and standards cannot be 
held so tenaciously in the presence of men who, in the 
long watch of the trenches and in the ebb and flow of 
battle, have won a new conception of what is really 
worth while. So a new accent of reality and concrete- 
ness must ring in the modern sermon. 

This involves changes in the conventional language 
in which religious ideas have been expressed in the past. 
Words which meant something specific and precious as 
they were used in prayer meeting by our grandparents 
have little significance for men who have acquired a 
strangely different vocabulary in France. No honest 
preacher will be so stupid as to indulge in trench slang 
for the sake of putting his message clearly; but he will 
try to think in the same world and to speak to the same 
temper as that which his hearers have been disciplined 
to understand by the experiences of war. 

In short, the way in which the church is to meet the 
needs of the new age is simply by loving and serving as 
Jesus did. Hankey strikes the root of the matter in his 
significant words, "to embody Christ." If all the 
churches in America were swept out of existence at this 
moment, new institutions would begin to appear within 
twenty-four hours, simply because Christ, the living 
lord of all good men, would necessarily be finding human 
organs through which to express his will in the world. 
The church is fairly subject to criticism for its failures; 
the way to make the church more efficient, however, is not 
to destroy it but rather to fill it more completely with the 
spirit of Christ, whom it embodies. There is no ground 
for fear that the Christian church, as the organism of 



112 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

Christ, ever will perish from the earth. It is necessary 
in every age to re-create the church by causing it more 
fully to embody her Lord. This is the minister's con- 
structive task at this moment. It is difficult, but it is fas- 
cinating, rewarding, and utterly possible of achievement. 
One of the volumes of sermons produced by the War 
contains this expression of the church's duty in the 
reconstruction period : 

It is not the function of the Christian church, as such, to draft 
political programs or to erect international organizations, but it 
is her duty to make men who will do these things. If, as Lord 
Acton has said, "Ideas are the cause and not the result of public 
events, " and if the Christian church has the Divine Idea that is 
so revolutionary and creative that it can change the world, then 
she holds the key to the future and is bound to proclaim that 
Divine Idea everjrwhere.^ 

We may be sure, therefore, that the church, in the 
conception at least of Protestant Christianity, will 
always be the place where the prophets of the faith 
will kindle the d5dng fires of truth by reaffirming the 
ancient sanctions of religion. This is the warrant for the 
prayer that is used at the dedication of churches in 
Chad wick's beautiful "Dedication Ode": 

If in dark days to come. Justice and Truth die dumb, 

Caught by brawn-shouldered Wrong and backward hurled, 

Let each past prophet's name 

Rise here to robe in flame 

Our children's hearts, and be a sign unfurled 

To hopes that, laughing ours to scorn, 

Shall fiU Time's yet unbreathed horn, 

And shake the high-towered falsehoods of the world. 

For Thou, O God, boldest higher than sun or star-born fire 

Whatever springs toward Thee from man's desire. 

^ Christ and the World at War, pp. vii, viii. Copyright by the Pilgrioj 
Press, publishers. 



'^The Everlasting Reality of Religion'' 113 

Nothing ever can take the place of the church as a 
source of power in awakening the conscience of the 
community. The preacher is still the prophet of justice 
and truth to the slumbering conscience. These war 
times have renewed the commission of all preachers and 
set them again in their true place to lead the churches 
into this heritage. 

The Great War has brought us a new conception of 
the message and mission of the church to the nation. 
There is a vast difference between a national church, 
constituted by state authority and maintained by state 
resources, and a church that conceives of its duty in terms 
of service to the nation. The ideals and resources of the 
nation have been moved to the depths during the 
mighty struggle. Has the church learned anything new 
concerning its part in national life? This duty was 
expressed in the Call to the Mission of Repentance and 
Hope in England in the following words: 

There is a real difference between a converted nation and a 
nation of converted individuals. All the citizens of a nation might 
be individually converted and yet the public life be conducted 
on principles other than Christian. Good Christian people kept 
slaves for centuries; yet now we say that slavery is an un- Christian 
institution. A converted nation would be one whose citizens tried 
to order all their relationships to one another and to other nations 
by Christian principles; there would very likely still be many 
failures; much actual wrong might still be done; but a nation 
ordered by justice and love, so far as it was deliberately ordered, 
would be something very different from what we know, and some- 
thing at which no mission has hitherto directly aimed. ^ 

Therefore the modern preacher renews the assurance 
and the message of the Hebrew prophet and dares to 

^William Temple, A Challenge to the Church (London, S.P.C.L. 
1917). p. 7- 



114 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

speak fearlessly and plainly to the mind and conscience 
of the nation. He believes that religion is the supreme 
factor in shaping national policy, as well as in guiding 
individuals through an experience of sorrow. God has 
something to say to the nation; it is through the church 
that the divine message still comes to the people in 
their decisions and duties. 

Suggestions for Sermons on the Church 
suggestion i 

"O God, thou art my God; earnestly will I seek thee: 
My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, 
In a dry and weary land, where no water is. 
So have I looked upon thee in the sanctuary, 
To see thy power and thy glory" (Ps. 63 : i, 2). 

VISIONS OF GOD FOR DARK DAYS 

I. In the church we gain our vision of the power and glory of God. 
II, This comforts and helps us in hardship and sorrow. 

A recent letter from a seminary student, now a soldier in 
France, describes two Sundays when he, although a Protestant, 
attended mass in a French church of the village near which he 
was stationed. He was moved deeply by the worship; the sight 
of the little interior and especially of the beautiful windows, one 
of which had a luminous figure of the Christ-child, gave him a new 
sense of God for his hard work; so he also found in the sanctuary 
the vision of the Divine Father. 

SUGGESTION 2 

"We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, Thy 
holy temple" (Ps. dS'.^b). 

THE SATISFACTIONS OF THE CHURCH 

Do we find the satisfaction of our soul's deepest yearnings in 
the worship and work of the church ? 
I. The desire for knowledge satisfied by the church's teaching. 



"rfe Everlasting Reality of Religion^' 115 

II. The desire for spiritual certainty satisfied by the church's 
worship. 

III. The desire for comfort satisfied by the church's assurance of 
forgiveness and immortaUty. 

IV. The desire for comradeship in high endeavor satisfied by the 
church's fellowship and practical ministry. 



SUGGESTION 3 

When I thought how I might know this, 

It was too painful for me; 

Until I went into the sanctuary of God, 

And considered their latter end" (Ps. 73:16, 17). 

SOLVING life's MORAL RIDDLES 

I. The problem of suffering: universal; touches evil and good 

alike. 
II. No solution in history or philosophy. 

III. The message of the Christian church gives the only real light 
on the problem. 

SUGGESTION 4 

"Now ye are the body of Christ, and severally members 
thereof" (I Cor. 12:27). 

THE LIVING CHURCH 

This text presents the ideal of the church as the organism of 
Christ. Just as the individual soul dwells in and controls the 
human body, so Christ animates and directs the Christian church. 
This is according to his promise in John 17 : 20, 21. Therefore the 
development of the subject grows out of the study of the organism. 

I. The unity of the church. 
II. The diversity of the church (members each in his part), 

III. The relation of the church to its environment. 

IV. The animation of the church by its resident Life. 



ii6 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

SUGGESTION 5 

"And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 
i6:i8). 

THE MILITANT CHURCH ON THE OFFENSIVE 

This text has generally been interpreted as indicating the se- 
curity of the church on the defensive against the attacks of evil 
represented by Hades. But this does not correctly interpret the 
figure. One does not fight with gates as instruments of war; 
gates are for defense against attacks. Therefore it is evil that 
is on the defensive and the church that is on the offensive. The 
promise of Jesus therefore is, "And the powers of evil shall not 
be able to resist or prevail against the conquering church. " This 
gives a different point to the whole passage. 
I. Intrenched and guarded evils. Discuss them. 
II. The militant church attacking the gates of Hades. Study 

its forces, plan of campaign, and supreme Commander. 
III. The victory of the church. How may we expect it? The 

need of patience and hope. 

SUGGESTION 6 

"Be thou watchful, and establish the things that remain" 
(Rev. 3:2). 

CONSERVING SPIRITUAL VALUES 

There are various factors which must work at the task of 
conserving the spiritual values which will remain after the War. 
The political parties, the educational agencies, and the phil- 
anthropic institutions must unite in the great task. The church 
is prominent if not supreme among these. 
I. The "things that remain" after the War. 
II. What the church can do to conserve them. 



CHAPTER VIII 

GOD THE FATHER: HIS LOVE AND CARE 

The Great War has clarified and made real the fact 
of God and his love and care for men. At first glance 
this may seem Hke a contradiction. So many have 
suffered and died! How can it be true that God knew 
or cared ? 

A. THE FACT OF GOD 

But there is an instant and intuitive response to be 
discerned in the literature that the War has produced 
and it declares that God is still the central fact of the 
deepest consciousness of men. As Harry Lauder said: 
"You know, you do not have to talk to the laddies who 
are going 'over the top' about God. They are thinking 
about God and about home. " 

One turns naturally first of all to Mr. Britling Sees 
It Through for an expression of a war-bred faith in God. 
On that afternoon when Mr. Britling found Letty 
fighting the battle with her sorrow after she had heard 
that Teddy, her husband, was dead, he affirmed the 
instinctive and ancient faith in God with assured con- 
fidence. We can quote only a part of the conversation. 
Letty was speaking : 

"The world is cruel. It is just cruel. So it will always be." 

"It need not be cruel," said Mr. Britling. 

"It is just a place of cruel things. It is all set with knives. 
It is full of diseases and accidents. As for God — either there is 
no God or he is an idiot. He is a slobbering idiot. He is like some 
idiot who pulls off the wings of flies. " 

117 



ii8 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

"No," said Mr. Britling. 

"There is no progress. Nothing gets better. How can you 
believe in God after Hugh. Do you beUeve ia God ? " 

"Yes," said Mr. Britling after a long pause; "I do believe in 
God." 

"Who lets these things happen!" She raised herself on her 
arm and thrust her argument at him with her hand. "Who 
kills my Teddy and your Hugh — and millions. " 

"No," said Mr. Britling. 

"But he must let these things happen. Or why do they hap- 
pen?" 

"No," said Mr. Britling. "It is the theologians who must 
answer that. They have been extravagant about God. They 
have had silly absolute ideas — that He is all powerful. That He's 
omni-everything. But the common sense of men knows better. 
Every real religious thought denies it. After all, the real God of 
the Christians is Christ, not God Almighty; a poor mocked 

and wotmded God nailed on a cross of matter Some day 

he wiU triumph. "^ 

The God concerning whom Mr. Britling speaks 
so confidently to Letty is not the conventional God 
of Christianity. Mr. Wells explains this in God the 
Invisible King (p. ix), as follows: 

This book sets out as forcibly and exactly as possible the 
religious belief of the writer. That belief is not orthodox Chris- 
tianty; it is not, indeed, Christianity at aU; its core, neverthe- 
less, is a profound belief in a personal and intimate God. 

Mr. Wells is quite right in saying that this is not the 
God of Christianity at all; for the Christian people al- 
ways have beHeved in the Father God of Jesus Christ, 
and surely this is not the Veiled Being or the Invisible 
King whom Mr. Wells thinks he has discovered. 

But God, as Mr. Wells conceives him, does bring 
hope and help into human struggle. There is something 

^ Mr. Britling Sees It Through, p. 405. Copyright by the Macmillan 
Co., publishers. 



God the Father: Bis Love and Care 119 

inspiring and strengthening in the thought of God as 
taking our part, bearing his share of the burden, and 
entering actively with energy and purpose into all the 
highest human endeavors. There could be no better 
antidote for the despair born of the idea of an absentee 
God than a firm grasp upon the Invisible King. As 
Mr. Wells puts it himself, "The finding of him is sal- 
vation from the purposelessness of life. "^ To be de- 
livered from the weakness and flabbiness of a religion 
which has lost its consciousness of God's energetic 
partnership is a boon to bewildered humanity. 

Thus Mr. Wells lets Mr. Britling speak in the con- 
cluding paragraphs of his book with a force and passion 
that is compelling. We can quote only a paragraph: 

Religion is the first thing and the last thing, and until a man 
has foiind God and been found by God, he begins at no beginning, 
he works to no end. He may have his friendships, his partial 
loyalties, his scraps of honour. But all these fall into place and life 
falls into place only with God. Only with God. God, who fights 
through men against Bhnd Force and Night and Non-Existence; 
who is the end, who is the meaning. He is the only Eling.^ 

But there is another side of the literature produced 
by the War which is still more profitable for the preacher. 
The soldiers have given expression to it in their letters 
and in their talks. It was thrown into a fervid sentence 
by Donald Hankey himself : 

You can't beheve in God ? Why, man, the very fact that you 
can't make a decent fist of Ufe without this belief in God, this 
rational basis of optimism, is surely a suf&cient proof of its truth. ^ 

^God the Invisible King, p. 18. Copyright by the Macmillan Co., 
publishers. 

' Mr. Britling Sees It Through, p. 442. Copyright by the Macmillan 
Co., publishers. 

3 Faith or Fear? p. 21. Copyright by Macmillan & Co. 



I20 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

These soldiers are quick to subject the doctrine to the 
test of experience. As a matter of fact it works; and, 
without it, Hfe does not work at all. One must choose 
either hope or despair; and when it comes to the final 
grounds of hope they are seen to include a firm faith 
in God. 

In December, 191 7, at a farewell breakfast held for 
fifteen young men who were leaving a Httle community 
for the training camp, every one spoke briefly. The 
boys were of many church communions and some of 
them claimed no church relationships whatever. But 
each man without exception referred in some way to 
God during his address. The sentences were built 
naturally into the talk and they were most genuine. 
Thus the men revealed that which was really funda- 
mental in their thinking, although it had seldom come 
to expHcit statement. 

Letters from the soldiers themselves are so full of 
references to their intuitive sense of God that selections 
from the literature are difficult to make because of the 
very wealth of the material at hand. The following 
three brief quotations are t5^ical of the way in which 
the soldiers met the situation and defined their faith: 

"In this immense crucible, the world, time and space are 
melted. Into this infinitely complex mechanism, this intricate 
chemical process, we are thrown, atom against atom. What wiU 
come out of the whirlwind ? God alone knows. But what does 
the knowledge of these elements so diverse and so complex matter 
to us ? For God is there. Let us be in His hand like matter in that 
of the artist. Each stroke with the chisel gradually rough-hews and 
refines us, rids us of our original coverings and brings us towards 
perfection. Ah! if we only knew how to let ourselves be chiselled 
by our Maker. Our crime — the crime of ignorance — is that we 



God the Father: His Love and Care 121 

know not how to commit ourselves to Him. It is as though the 
block of marble revolted against the sculptor."^ 

"Sometimes a shell covered me with earth and deafened me, 
and then quiet fell once more upon the frosty world. I paid 
dear, but I had moments of solitude full of God. "^ 

" 'Amidst all that, ' said a twenty-year-old non-commissioned 
officer to me, speaking of the hideous melee of the charge against 
a machine gun, 'the feeling grows that there must be a Supreme 
Being and that all this must mean something, and something 
great, else all is moral chaos. ' The very nerve of faith is touched. 
Meaning or no meaning for the world's history and for human life, 
that, and nothing else, is the issue. God has a meaning through 
itaU."3 

Commenting on these reported impressions and 
experiences various writers have interpreted them in 
different ways; in general, however, they are quite 
united in their judgment that the experience of the War 
has given us a fresh, intuitive, and altogether more 
vital conception of God. The following are illustrations 
of this effort to interpret the new vision of God brought 
about by the War: 

The young solder-thinkers quoted [in preceding paragraphs 
discussing the consciousness of God on the part of the men in 
action] were none of them men who in earlier life would have 
talked easily of religion. We have become less awkward in ac- 
knowledging that we stand in the presence of mysteries too deep 
for us. A young doctor gone to the front recently startled the 
society acquaintance he had left by writing home, "There is no 
fear here but the fear of God." God and immortality have 

^Captain Ferdinand Belmont, quoted in The Good Soldier, p. 75. 

^"Lettres d'un Soldat," quoted in Winifred Kirkland, The New 
Death, p. 88. Copyright by the Houghton Mifflin Co., publishers. 

i Christ and the World at War, p. 31. Copyright by the Pilgrim 
Press, publishers. 



122 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

become facts for our everyday life, while they were only words, 
and words avoided, before.^ 

The next comment is by a shrewd observer, who has 
been at the Front, and whose conclusions are always 
marked by insight and good judgment: 

There is no infidelity in the trenches. Of scepticism con- 
cerning the refinements of religion there is much, but of repudiation 
of God there is practically none. In the long, quiet times of waiting 
in the trenches and dugouts and in the biUets there is vastly more 
of thought and discussion upon the loftiest themes than is ever 
suspected by the folk at home. Out of the tremendous experi- 
ence which has broken the shackles of the old manner of think- 
ing and living, have been born certain general conclusions and 
convictions. 

Our armies believe in God. There has been no national propa- 
ganda among the Allies, such as the Germans have vigorously 
prosecuted, to proclaim the identity of our cause with the divine 
purpose and will. Nevertheless, the home training of the troops, 
and the atmosphere of our whole previous hfe, has led them to face 
the eternal reality at this time. They believe in a great God, 
whose ways are past finding out, but who is manifestly doing some- 
thing with humanity by means of this cataclysm. It is not a 
little drawing-room God, flattered to be patted on the head by 
blase society faddists; nor yet a vindictive tribal deity, that the 
soldiers have come to accept. He is "Jehovah of the thunders, 
Lord God of battles. " 

Also the God honored in the trenches is a good God. His 
other name is love. He is tolerant of a soldier's frailties, and, in 
some iU-defined sense, a feUow worker with the man who is staking 
his life to bring righteousness to pass on earth. This God will 
deal gently with the fallen. For the average soldier is a fatalist. 
He would express himself, if he were in the habit of quoting Scrip- 
ture, by some such passage as "My times are in Thy hand." 
His it is to be a good soldier; for the rest he trusts the good God.^ 

^Winifred Kirkland, The New Death, p. 93. Copyright by the 
Houghton MiflElin Co., publishers. 

' William T. Ellis, The New Theology of the Trenches. 



God the Father: His Love and Care 123 

Another comment which ought to be compared with 
the foregoing, coming from a quite different source, is 
this: 

.... the approach to God is to-day immediate, intense, 
practical, in its cry for instant guidance through this horror. A 
few years ago we avoided thinking about God as easily as we 
avoided thinking about death. That indifference is destroyed. 
We j&nd thoughtful men, especially in England and France, looking 
back with shame at our days of facile faithlessness, equally aghast 
at our former disregard of the divine, and at the Kaiser's champion- 
ship of a tribal God of battle revived from an age grown almost 
legendary.^ 

These conclusions are summed up in the following 
glowing stanzas: 

What Did You See Out There, My Lad?^ 

What did you see out there, my lad, 

That has set that look in your eyes ? 

You went out a hoy, you have come hack a man, 

With strange new depths underneath your tan; 

What was it you saw out there, my lad, 

That set such deeps in your eyes ? 

Strange things, — and sad, — and wonderful, — 
Things that I scarce can tell, — 
I have been in the sweep of the Reaper's scythe, — 
With God, — and Christ, — and heU. 

I have seen Christ doing Christly deeds; 
I have seen the devil at play; 
I have grimped to the sod in the hand of God; 
I have seen the God-less pray. 

'Winifred Kirkland, The New Death, p. 86. Copyright by the 
Houghton MifiSin Co., publishers. 

2 John Oxenham, The Vision Splendid, -p. 31. Copyright (1917) by 
George H. Doran Co., publishers. 



124 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

I have seen Death blast out suddenly 
From a clear blue summer sky; 
I have slain like Cain with a blazing brain; 
I have heard the wounded cry. 

I have lain alone among the dead, 
With no hope but to die; 
I have seen them killing the wounded ones; 
I have seen them crucify. 

I have seen the Devil in petticoats 
WiKng the souls of men; 
I have seen great sinners do great deeds 
And turn to their sins again. 

I have sped through hells of fiery hail, 
With fell red-fury shod ; 
I have heard the whisper of a voice; 
I have looked in the face of God. 

You've a right to your deep, high look, my lad, 

You have met God in the ways; 

And no man looks into his face 

But he feels it all his days. 

You've a right to your deep, high look, my lad, 

And we thank Him for His grace. 



B. THE GOD OF JESUS 

The Christian preacher does not need to spend much 
time either with the metaphysical God of the elaborate 
creeds or with the Deity whom Mr. Wells is sure he has 
rescued from their strangling folds. The noblest and 
most satisfactory term for God that we can find is 
simply this : The God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. 



God the Father: His Love and Care 125 

The God with whom the people need to come into 
personal relations in this constructive age is the Father 
whom Jesus told us about and with whom he lived in 
unbroken and happy fellowship. We must distinguish 
between the explanations that are given to interpret an 
experience and the experience itself, a vital fact. We 
must return to the very experience of Jesus himself as he 
lived his earthly life and passed through all the joys and 
sorrows through which we also must pass. The simple 
reading of the Four Gospels reveals this fact as clear as 
the Hght of day: Jesus never lost for one moment his 
sense of conscious union with God the Father. This was 
the substance of his life. It brought him strength and 
joy and peace. It was more real than the lumber and 
tools that he handled when he was a carpenter, the friends 
in Bethany, or the nails that drove through his quiver- 
ing flesh on Calvary. It is impossible to understand 
Jesus apart from this supreme item of his conscious life. 
He may be interpreted as the child of his time, in the 
full light of archaeology and social science. He may be 
studied by the psychologist with bewildering detail. 
He may be subjected to the investigation of metaphysi- 
cian and theologian, as he has been without disaster for 
centuries. But the real interpretation of Jesus does not 
call for any or all these elaborate processes. Jesus was 
simply a man so mastered and possessed by God the 
Father that he could say without hypocrisy, / and my 
Father are one. His enemies jumped at this statement as 
ground for the charge of blasphemy because they inter- 
preted it in the terms of metaphysics and theology. But 
the plain man knows that it is true. It is a vital and a 



126 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

moral unity which has become more lustrous and com- 
pelling as the centuries have passed. 

Therefore we beheve that the preacher today is 
simply compelled to study again Jesus' consciousness of 
God as the chief datum for his preaching. No more 
profitable piece of work can be outlined in preparation 
for constructive preaching than three months spent on 
the gospels in the painstaking effort to define Christ's 
experience of God. Use your imagination; call to your 
help every possible resource in scholarship and inter- 
pretation; but chiefly and all the time work your way 
into the very core and center of the life of Jesus. 
Get the motives from which he acted. Define the aims 
toward which he steadily drove. Realize the reserves 
which he called up when he was in any stress of spirit. 
Out of it all formulate the Master's conception of God. 
There are not many books to be read on the subject; 
there is intensely earnest thinking to be done. 

Then give the people the result. Let them see the 
God of Jesus. There will be no uncertainty about that. 
No "Veiled Being" will emerge from this study. Jesus 
Christ knew God and we can learn if we will the kind of 
God he knew and loved and obeyed. This, we repeat, 
is the God whom our bewildered time needs to know. 
The Christian preacher alone has this message for our 
day. Why should we grope through volumes of philos- 
ophy and pages of poetry and books of mystic rapture 
first of all in our quest for God ? Let them all come later. 
They are useful. But turn to the gospels and discern 
the God of Jesus. That is the subject for preaching 
today. It kindles; it inspires; it saves. 



God the Father: His Love and Care 127 

c. god's providential care 
We cannot examine carefully Christ's experience of 
God without discovering that it roots in the unshakable 
trust of Jesus in the Father's personal love and care. 
This fact stands out on every page of the gospels. Not 
only did Jesus affirm that this was true, but he Hved every 
hour with this as his great assurance and help. He 
practiced what he taught. 

We are told that the soldiers in the trenches were 
almost universally fatalists. They saw such unexplain- 
able freaks of bullet and shell that they soon reduced the 
whole problem to a mere declaration that "You will 
go West when the time comes. " The following bits of 
soldier philosophy on this point are from the writings of 
Donald Hankey (Jim is speaking, and he is direct and 
positive in what he has to say about a soldier's behavior) : 
"I ain't stuck on dyin' afore my time, and I don't know 
as I'm greatly stuck on livin', but, whichever it is, you 
got ter make the best on it. "^ In another place the fol- 
lowing dialogue is reported: 

"Lance Corporal: I think you goes when your time 
comes, sir. But it won't come tonight, sir. Not after all we been 
through this spell, and the spell just finished. 

"Dodd: I believe you're right. Corporal. We shall go when 
the time comes, and not before. I like that idea, you know. 
It means one hasn't got to worry. "^ 

Another soldier has written: 

We aU know, those of us on the firing-line, that to-morrow 
or the day after, we too will probably foUow the others. WeU, 
so let it be if God wills it. He who holds in His hands our destinies 

^A Student in Arms, Series 2, p. 11 1. Copyright by E. P. Dutton 
& Co., publishers. 

'^/JiJ., pp. 131, 132. 



128 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

knew that this or that event would happen. If I die, it is because 
that is His wish, and if that is His wish, it is well and there is 
nothing to complain about. I can live and die only through His 
will. So have confidence and be calm.*^ 

Those who are actively engaged in serving the moral 
and spiritual needs of the men bear substantially the 
same testimony. 

It is universally acknowledged that soldiers are mostly fatal- 
ists in time of battle. "If your luck's in, it's in: if it's out, it's 
out" is the common attitude. Only the bullet with a man's 
name and address on it will ever hit him; but no parapet will 
shield him when that one comes along.^ 

The author of this paragraph says that the soldier 
has no answer of his own to the question of responsibility 
for the War; but he does expect that the church will have 
one and he is eager to know what it will be. He adds: 
" Christian teachers will be put on their mettle in days to 
come by men who will want plain English on fundamental 
matters. " 

This same outlook was found in the case of the home 
folk, too. After every human precaution had been 
taken, after all our prayers had been said, we all tended 
to leave our loved ones in the hands of God, saying in 
some form or other, ''God wills it," or "Whatever is, 
is best. " This did not mean the refuge of the perplexed 
soul in crass fatalism; it only meant that we felt that 
there was love and goodness above all the apparent 
chance and suffering of war. And this faith we shall 
carry into the new day, when we shall need more than 

^A Soldier Unafraid, p. 28. Copyright by Little, Brown & Co., 
publishers. 

' Maclean and Sclater, God and the Soldier, p. 12. Copyright (19 18) 
by George H. Doran Co., publishers. 



God the Father: His Love and Care 129 

ever to be steadied by an unfaltering trust in what 
Whittier so well called ''the eternal goodness." 

There is no irreconcilable difference, of course, 
between impHcit trust in God's providential care 
and the acceptance of the fact that death conies when 
our "time" is fixed. It was God's care that allowed the 
plots of Jesus' enemies to still his strong young heart in 
physical death. Thus Jesus himself accepted it; and 
thus the Christian believes. Death is far from the 
worst experience that can come to the individual person. 

It is rather a matter of emphasis than the harmoniz- 
ing of apparent contradictories. What we need to do 
in the modern pulpit is to present the way in which 
Jesus accepted the fact of God's care even at the point 
where it involved the temporary triumph of his enemies 
and the loss of his own physical existence on the cross. 
Jesus "carried on" to the mortal end and his faith 
never wavered. God's will was right and good and he 
met it in serene triumph. 

In the pulpit and parish the minister today may 
confidently take his position with Jesus as he preaches 
and goes on his errands of counsel and hope into the 
homes of the congregation. That which worked 
successfully with Jesus may be trusted to bring help and 
relief to those who are facing situations similar to that 
which called to his Hps the prayer, "Father, if it be 
possible, let this cup pass away from me: nevertheless, 
not as I will, but as thou wilt. " 

Suggestions for Sermons on God and Providence 

At this point we are overwhelmed by the wealth of 
biblical material at our disposal. The Bible is the 



130 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

exhaustless treasury of truth concerning God and his 
relations to men. The following, however, are passages 
appropriate to the theme just considered: 

SUGGESTION I 

"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting 
upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple" 
(Isa. 6:1). 

god's greatness revealed in a national crisis 

The time when God's greatness is most needed is in an age 
like the present, when the most titanic of human and physical 
forces have been in action and when the vastest problems of his- 
tory have been thrust upon the mind. A smaU God might match 
the needs of a little world; but nothing less than a great God can 
meet the demands of our great generation. 

It has been said that, in proposing his conception of Deity, 
Mr. Wells has "substituted a godling for God." Certainly "an 
impoverished, struggling, half-helpless God can never be the 
God of Christianity."^ 

In developing the truth that God is "high and lifted up," 
use these stanzas from Sidney Lanier: 

"As the marsh-hen secretly builds on the watery sod. 
Behold I will build me a nest on the greatness of God: 
I will fly in the greatness of God as the marsh-hen flies 
In the freedom that fills all the space 'twixt the marsh and 

the skies: 
By so many roots as the marsh-grass sends in the sod 
I wiU heartily lay me a hold on the greatness of God: 
O, hke to the greatness of God is the greatness within 
The range of the marshes, the hberal marshes of Gl3ain. "^ 

Surely the day has come with texts and materials like these 
to refresh the souls of the congregations with a mighty affirmation 
of the great God. It can be done now; for the Great War has 

^ Maclean and Sclater, God and the Soldier, p. 17. 
2 "The Marshes of Glynn," Poems, p. 17. 



God the Father: His Love and Care 131 

created a background of vastness and expectation which warrants 
such preaching. A smug and petty age did not call for it; but 
the new age does. The Christian preacher must believe in God 
mightily. 

SUGGESTION 2 

"Save me from the lion's mouth; 
Yea, from the horns of the wild-oxen thou hast answered me" 

(Ps. 22:21). 
"Jehovah that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out 
of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this 
Philistine" (I Sam. 17:37). 

THE APPEAL TO EXPERIENCE 

Note the clearer meaning given to the first text by the revisers' 
translation. Develop the material in the form of a discussion of 
this proposition: God has helped and saved in the past ; therefore 
God will save and help today. 

SUGGESTION 3 

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine 
enemies" (Ps. 23:5). 

EATING UNDER SHELL FIRE 

I. The stress of Ufe, represented by the presence of enemies. 
II. The calmness and replenishment of life represented by eating. 
III. These two can be harmonized only by the presence and power 
of God. 

SUGGESTION 4 

"He saith in his heart: God hath forgotten, 
He hideth his face, he will never see it. 
Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, 
to requite it with thy hand" (Ps. 10: 11, 14). 

GOD HAS NOT LOST HIS MEMORY 

I. The folly of failing to reckon with God. 
II. The wisdom of trusting the God who remembers and rewards. 



132 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

SUGGESTION 5 

"In all their aflSiction he was afflicted, and the angel of his 
presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; 
and he bare them and carried them aU the days of old " (Isa. 63 : 9) . 

THE SAVIOR GOD 

This is one of the texts whose wealth and beauty appear as 
one broods reverently upon it. Linger thoughtfully upon every 
word, phrase, and clause. Let the imagery glow before your mind 
as your imagination discovers it. Catch the stately rhythm 
of the Enghsh. Then develop the material textually. 
I. God suffers with us. 
II. God saves us in affliction. 

III. God redeems us in his love and pity. 

IV. God carries us tenderly through the long process of redemption. 

SUGGESTION 6 
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Exod. 20:3). 

FIRST, GOD 

We need to return to the moral and religious sanctions of the 
Ten Commandments. They place God first; all that is good in 
human life flows forth from that fact. After a brief discussion of 
the proposition, show what it would mean to place God first in: 
I. Individual motives and conduct. 
II. Industrial relationships. 

III. Civic duties. 

IV. International duties and privileges. 

SUGGESTION 7 

"And though man be risen up to pursue thee, and to seek 
thy soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of 
life with Jehovah thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them 
shaU he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling" (I Sam. 25:29). 



God the Father: His Love and Care 133 

THE GUARDIAN OF THE TREASURES 

Note the paraphrase of H. P. Smith in the International 
Critical Commentary: "The soul of my lord shall be bound in the 
bundle of the living, in the care of Yahweh thy God." The 
figure refers to the binding into a bundle of the precious and treas- 
ured things which their owner watches over with ceaseless and 
tender care. 
I. The soul of a man. Every life is precious, to itself and to 

God. A human spirit is beyond price. 
II. The bundle of the living. We are bound up with one another 

in the complex, intimate relations of daily life. 
III. The guardian God. This precious bundle of life is personally 
preserved by the God to whom it has supreme worth. 

SUGGESTION 8 

"For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and 
horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we 
had spoken unto the king, saying. The hand of our God is upon all 
them that seek him, for good; but his power and his wrath is 
against aU them that forsake him. So we fasted and besought our 
God for this: and he was entreated of us" (Ezra 8: 22, 23). 

LIVING UP TO OUR PROMISES FOR GOD 

Study the historical situation. Ezra had afiirmed the power 
of Jehovah to protect those who were seeking to do his wiU. 
Now, having proclaimed his reliance upon God, should he act as 
if he relied only on the military escort of the king ? He carried 
his trust through to the limit. He had made promises for God; 
he lived up to them. Apply this principle in personal religious 
life and in national relations. 

SUGGESTION 9 
"The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Pet. 1:3). 

THE GOD WHOM WE NEED TODAY 

I. Jesus' experience of God. A brief survey of his life and 
teaching, showing how he never for a conscious moment lost 
his assurance of God's nearness and care. 



134 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

II. The God of Jesus is the God for us today. However the 
times have changed, the fundamental needs of the soul have 
not altered. We need the God of Jesus as never before. 
III. How to make the God of Jesus ours. 
a) By the study of the Master. 
h) By making the master-motives of Jesus ours. 
c) By the complete surrender of ourselves to God in Christ. 

SUGGESTION lO 

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny ? and not one of them 
shall fall on the ground without your Father" (Matt. 10:29). 

"Are not five sparrows sold for two pence ? and not one of them 
is forgotten in the sight of God" (Luke 12:6). 

THE FIFTH SPARROW 

The suggestive item in the two texts lies, in the variants. 
Evidently two "sayings" of Jesus are reported; each is accurate 
when judged by the customs of the day. Sparrows were one of 
the cheapest articles of food for sale in the market. The bodies 
of the little birds were spitted or strung and thus offered for sale 
at a cent apiece or five for four cents. 

The merchant was willing to throw in the fifth sparrow as not 
worth the counting. Jesus said that not one is forgotten in the 
sight of God. That is, the Father's love goes far beyond the usual 
careful and exacting reckoning of the merchant, and where the 
man is ready to give up the fifth sparrow for a four-cent trade, 
God still cares and coimts. This is a legitimate inference from the 
two texts. It adds stress to the common and familiar insistence 
of Jesus upon the providential care of God. 



CHAPTER IX 
CHRIST THE LORD 

We come now to the distinct message of Christianity. 
It is summed up most concisely in the simple words, 
"God in Christ." It was the mission and work of 
Christ which differentiated Christianity from Judaism 
and has given it power and permanence in history. 
It was a religion among other religions; it was the 
supreme expression of religion, destined to become 
universal. Men found God in Christ; they were 
brought to a new life in union with Christ; and because 
they had met this transforming experience they were 
confident in telling all the world that this was indeed 
the way of salvation. 

There have been many periods in the history of the 
Christian people when, for a time at least, this unique 
and central truth was obscured. But it always has 
emerged finally again into clearness and control. The 
permanence of Christianity is forever bound up with the 
fact of Christ as the Savior and Lord of the individual 
Christian and of the society which the Christian people 
create. 

What has the Great War done to exalt or to modify 
the central significance of Christ in the lives of his 
followers ? How has it changed the content or the form 
of the Christian gospel, which it is the office of the Chris- 
tian church to proclaim to the ends of the earth ? Un- 
doubtedly it has thrown into relative obscurity certain 

135 



136 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

doctrines of the person of Christ which have been con- 
cerned with the theological or metaphysical explanation 
of his nature and mission. This does not prove that 
such explanations have no permanent place in Christian 
thinking; it only means that for the time at least specu- 
lative interest in the Christ of the Christian dogma 
has ceased to hold a conspicuous place in men's minds. 
But has Christ, as a personal and Hving force in the 
daily experience of men, ceased to exert power? For 
an answer to this question we must turn, in the nature 
of the case, to the literature which the War has been 
producing. How do men who have themselves been in 
the trenches and shared the inmost Hfe of the soldiers 
feel on this matter ? Donald Hankey is the interpreter 
to whom we turn most naturally for testimony. He 
wrote: 

Something is wrong, and an ever-increasing number of men 
and women within the church are feeling that all this strife and 
controversy now going on between the denominations is beside 
the point; that in it the gospel is lost sight of; that what we want 
to do is just to drop all these questions, and to get back to the main 
point, which is, after all, to embody Christ.^ 

This simple phrase, to embody Christ, needs inter- 
pretation. It means that we are actually to furnish a 
body through which the still living and personal Christ 
can get his will done on earth. He is dead as far as a 
physical body is concerned. Thus he must touch mod- 
ern life through another body than the one in which he 
once dwelt in Palestine. Where is he to find this ? In 
you and in me, as we yield ourselves to Christ in such 
complete surrender to his will that we may say in all fair 

^ Faith or Fear ? p. 29, Copyright by Macmillan & Co. 



Christ the Lord 137 

use of the words, that we embody him. Hankey touched 
this point somewhat more fully, saying : 

As I write now I have absolutely no doubt of the power of 
Christ to transform character and life, to change the poor physical 
pygmies that we men are into beloved sons of God and inheri- 
tors of life eternal. And that is why I feel bound to do what I can 
to try to increase the vitality and efficiency of Christ's body the 
Church, that it may prove in the future a more adequate me- 
divun for the exercise of His wonderful power and love than it 
has been in the past.' 

Tiplady does not agree with Hankey in the statement 
that the soldiers believe in the Christian virtues but do 
not connect them with Christ in any vital way. He 
says, on the contrary, that "Christ is the background of 

all their moral and religious thinking Take 

Christ away, and he [the soldier] would feel as desolate 
and lost as if you took the sky away. He never forgets, 
in his heart, that there once lived on this earth a real 
'White Man. '"^ 

Tiplady, so far as we can judge, knows the soul of 
the soldier as well as Hankey. Both are certainly agreed 
that Christ does have power to transform the lives of 
men from weakness into strength by the addition of 
himself as a definite factor of energy to the struggle for 
Christian character. 

We strike here a distinction which must be made 
clear in Christian thinking and preaching. There is a 
vast difference between Christ as intellectually realized 
and Christ as a power actually felt in the living of daily 

^Ibid., p. 16. 

^ The Cross at the Front, p. 74. Copyright by Fleming H. Revell 
Co., publishers. 



138 The Gospel in the Light oj the Great War 

life. This has been shown clearly in an illuminating 
sermon by Rev. J. D. Jones, in which he says: 

Paul became a reaUy converted man — ^not simply when God 
revealed his Son to him, but when he revealed his Son within him; 
not when the real nature of Christ was revealed to his mind, but 
when the redeeming power of Christ was actually felt in his soul.^ 

Undoubtedly much time has been spent in seeking 
to present clear and reasonable ideas about Christ. And 
we must continue to do this. Faith, in a vital sense, 
is dependent upon the way in which the believer may 
proceed upon a clear conception of the object of his 
faith. But the stern issues of this period of constructive 
action upon which we are entering demand that we 
shall be able to carry on from clear mental pictures to 
compelHng personal motives. We must furnish men 
who are engaged in the fierce battle for character with 
new power to complement their own strength and thus 
make them victorious over sin. This new power, if 
the continuous witness of the Christian people is true, 
is nothing less than Christ himself, unseen but personal 
and living, becoming a resident in our bodies, possessing 
our wills, and adding the energies of his own divine Self 
to our human powers. 

This is the modern interpretation of what has been 
called the "Mystic Union, " concerning which Paul spoke 
so clearly in Gal. 2 : 20. New terms must be discovered 
by which to present this old experience to the new age,- 
for the future of our Christianity depends upon it. 
As Professor D. S. Cairns says: 

The new world that will come after the war must arise out of 
the fellowship of Christian men with the risen Lord. He must 

^ Christ and the World at War, p. 96. Copyright by the Pilgrim 
Press, publishers. 



Christ the^Lord 139 

have the creatmg of it, and he can only create it through the medi- 
ation of dedicated lives.^ 

There are many expressions of this conviction in the 
literature that has come out of the war. Perhaps none 
is more vivid than the following famiHar poem, with 
its haunting repetitions and its accurate reflection of 
the average preoccupied mind : 

Christ in Flanders^ 

We had forgotten You, or very nearly — 
You did not seem to touch us very nearly — 

Of course we thought about You now and then: 
Especially in any time of trouble — 
We knew that You were good in time of trouble — 

But we are very ordinary men. 

And there were always other things to think of — 
There's lots of things a man has got to think of — 

His work, his home, his pleasure, and his wife: 
And so we only thought of You on Sunday — 
Sometimes, perhaps, not even on a Sunday — 

Because there's always lots to fill one's life. 

And aU the while, in street or lane or by-way — 
In country lane, or city street, or by-way — 

You walked among us and we did not see. 
Your feet were bleeding as You walked our pavements- 
How did we miss your footprints on our pavements ? 

Can there be other folk as blind as we ? 

Now we remember: over here in Flanders — 
(It isn't strange to think of You in Flanders) — 

This hideous warfare seems to make things clear. 
We never thought about You much in England — 
But, now that we are far away from England — 

We have no doubts, we know that You are here. 

' Ibid., p. so. ' Lucy Whitmell in The Spectator. 



I40 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

You helped us pass the jest along the trenches — 
Where, in cold blood, we waited in the trenches — 

You touched its ribaldry and made it fine. 
You stood beside us in our pain and weakness — ■ 
We're glad to think You understand our weakness — 

Somehow it seems to help us not to whine. 

We think about You kneeling in the garden — 
Ah, God ! the agony of that dread garden — 

We know You prayed for us upon the cross. 
If anything could make us glad to bear it — 
'Twould be the knowledge that You willed to bear it — 

Pain — death — the uttermost of human loss. 

Though we forgot You — You will not forget us — 
We feel so sure that You wiU not forget us — 

But stay with us until this dream is past. 
And so we ask for courage, strength, and pardon — 
Especially, I think, we ask for pardon — 

And that You'll stand beside us to the last. 

The opportunities for service of all kinds which the 
War made possible revealed new meanings in the familiar 
thought of ministering to others, not merely in the name 
of Christ, but actually in his stead. Among the innu- 
merable examples of this the following is worthy of note: 

Here is a stalwart Sikh. He is homesick and depressed. He 
has had no word from home for months and is longing for a glimpse 
of the old place and of his wife and little boys. Suddenly there 
is a cheery greeting and he looks up into the smiling face of an 
American Association Secretary from the Punjab. Soon the 
story is out. That night a letter goes from the Secretary to a 
missionary friend near the Sikh's home. The weeks pass by and 
again the Secretary comes upon the soldier, lonely and miserable. 
He takes from his pocket a snapshot of the Sikh's wife and boys, 
with the home in the background, and hands it to the soldier. 
And the big fellow is not ashamed of his tears, as he salaams again 



Christ the Lord 141 

and again in gratitude. This is not fancy but blessed fact. In 
an endless variety of ways the hand of Christ is being stretched 
out to these men who have come from the ends of the earth.* 

For a long time a new apologetic literature — or at 
least a fresh statement of an old line of defense — had 
been appearing. It consisted of a report on the actual 
experience of men and women whose whole life had 
been changed by faith in Christ and surrender to him. 
The course of conduct was changed; new character 
was created. There was no doubt concerning the 
fact, which was not explained but was simply affirmed.^ 
This literature has been augmented and this testimony 
additionally stressed by the War. We shall be able to 
offer many new examples of the reality and power of 
the living Christ. He is not a great hero dead and 
buried in Palestine centuries ago; he is alive now, and 
he enters in personal union with the human spirit, adding 
the power that enables us to conquer our sins and achieve 
a character like his own. 

There is no better expression of the central meaning 
of Paul's spiritual experience than is to be found in the 
great poem by F. W. H. Myers entitled "Saint Paul." 
The first printing of this was in 1867 and it is one of the 
classics of Christian poetry. We read it too seldom. 
It repays most careful study; it is a source of inspiration 
to the Christian preacher. Paul's own words, "There 
is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor 

^Murray, The Call of a World Task, p. 87. Copyright by the Stu- 
dent Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, publishers. 

^ Begbie, Twice Born Men, Souls in Action, and Other Sheep; Roberts, 
The Dry Dock of a Thousand Wrecks; Scandlin, The Wicked John 
Goode. 



142 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one 
in Christ Jesus," give the keynote to the noble inter- 
pretation of Paul's supreme motive. The first and last 
stanzas of the poem are as follows : 

Christ ! I am Christ's ! and let the name suffice you, 
Ay, for me too He greatly hath sufficed: 

Lo with no winning words I would entice you, 
Paul has no honour and no friend but Christ. 

Yea thro' life, death, thro' sorrow and thro' sinning 
He shall suffice me, for He hath sufficed: 

Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning, 
Christ the beginning, for the end is Christ. 

A morning spent with this kindling poem will cause 
the winter's preaching to glow with new light and heat. 
The fact that Christ is the Master of the soul will appear 
with fresh force and beauty. Among the most fervent 
of the books which the soldiers have written is one of 
Giosue Borsi, in which he breaks into this passionate 
utterance : 

But I believe also that by going to war voluntarily I am doing 
my duty and obeying one of Thy holy precepts, Jesus Christ, 
blessed and true God. Thou hast told me to render unto Caesar 
the things that are Caesar's; in life Thou wert the perfect model 
of a good citizen, amenable and respectful to the law and obedient 
to Thy lawful masters. Thou didst tenderly and ardently love 
Thy earthly fatherland, Thou Son of David, splendid flower of 
the purest blood of Israel. Thou didst make marvelous efforts 
to save and lead Thy own imappreciative and ungrateful people 
to glory and to melt its faction-rent and contrary heart. Thou 
didst weep over the evil and irremediable future of that Jerusalem 
that was about to murder Thee. And finally. Thou wert silent 
before Herod, not merely because the tyrant was unworthy of an 



Christ the Lord 143 

answer, but because Thou sawest in him the usurper of the rights 
of Thy race, with his illegitimate presence brutally desecrating 
the sacred and glorious memories of the palace of the Maccabees.^ 

Undoubtedly the average Christian soldier would not 
feel comfortable in quite so elevated an atmosphere 
as this. Young men who have not read St. Augustine 
and Dante, as Borsi had, would think the experience 
unreal and the language extravagant. But this Italian 
officer means exactly what he says. The experience is 
part of the hardship of the trenches; his language is 
as genuine as was the word of command which sent him 
forward one day to die valiantly for Christ and Italy, 

In England there has been more than one effort to 
meet the reHgious needs of the nation by a new pres- 
entation of Christ the Lord. The following is from a 
statement of the purpose of the National Mission of 
Repentance and Hope in 19 16: 

A penitent Church will say to the nation: "There is only one 
source of healing for what is amiss: it is the gospel of the love 
of God in Christ. We call you to trust in that; for nations, as 
for individuals, there is no other welfare. We ourselves have not 
been faithful to the whole of our commission. That is our shame; 
it is also our hope. For if by deeper trust we can become more 
faithful in the future, we shall prove more fully the truth of our 
testimony that the Lord whom we worship is the Saviour of the 
world. "2 

One more quotation must suffice. It comes from a 
collection of sermons in war time, published in England, 

M Soldier's Confidences with God, p. 205. Copyright by P. J. 
Kenedy & Sons, publishers. 

2 William Temple, A Challenge to the Churches (London, S.P.C.K,, 
1917), p. 10. 



144 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

and states the Christian faith in the primacy of Christ 
the Lord: 

We believe with a belief that is stronger than ever now that 
Christ is the Fountain-Head from which justice draws its strength, 
and loyalty its self-sacrifice, and patriotism its responsibility and 
self-restraint, and even war, while war lasts, its chivalry and 
honour."^ 

This means that we must return to the experience 
of Paul. We must supplement Jesus' experience of God 
with Paul's experience of Christ. A distinction ought to 
be carefully made at this point. The actual experience 
through which Paul passed and his interpretation of that 
experience are not at all the same. Something happened 
that changed him from a man whom the timid Christians 
feared to one whom they loved and trusted. That is 
the great fact that cannot be obscured. Such changes 
do not issue from anything less than a radical and trans- 
forming cause. Paul is perfectly clear concerning this. 
He declares that it was a real entrance of the Christ 
into his body so that he could honestly say that Christ 
dwelt within him. He was no longer the old Paul, 
controlled by his former will. He was a new man, 
impelled by new impulses and controlled by new motives. 
This is what he affirms repeatedly and to a similar 
experience he urges his friends. 

The practical problem for the preacher is, Can 
living men and women be urged today to seek and to 
expect the same experience ? If this is simply an inter- 
esting theological interpretation of something that 
happened to Paul centuries ago, then its meaning for 

^Christ and the World at War, p. 35. Copyright by the Pilgrim 
Press, publishers. 



Christ the Lord 145 

the modern preacher is practically nothing. If, on the 
other hand, this is an experience that was not unique 
in the case of Paul but may be expected to be repeated 
with anyone who makes a similar supreme surrender 
of will to Christ, then the preacher today has a definite 
message which he can give with conviction and courage. 
We believe that Paul has explained his Christian 
experience in terms that were clear to his own mind and 
which, in spite of all the development in psychology that 
has taken place within the last half century, convey a 
sufficiently definite meaning to us. The preacher in 
this constructive age may declare that what happened 
in the case of Paul may transpire at this moment in 
the experience of anyone who relates himself in a similar 
way to Christ. We do not need to experience Paul's 
theology; we need to experience Paul's experience. The 
Christian preacher need have no hesitation in affirming 
that Christ still has the power to come into the life of 
anyone and make him a "new creation." 

Suggestions tor Sermons on Christ 

suggestion i 
"I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). 

THE LIGHT OF LIFE 

Jesus used several figures to describe his character and mission: 

bread, vine, way, life, light. These are not definitions but clear 

and revealing descriptions. Develop the thought according to 

the nature of the physical figure. 

I. The light reveals. Every sunrise discovers a new world. 

It defines the relations and reveals the character of all objects. 

Thus Christ acts upon the soul. 



146 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

II, The light quickens. Life springs up when the sunlight 
comes. There is creative energy in it. Thus Christ touches 
the soul with new power. 
III. The light sustains. In quiet, ceaseless activity the sunlight 
sustains the world's hfe. It keeps up the processes that it 
starts. So Christ brings the soul on to perfection. 



SUGGESTION 2 

"Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so 
lam" (John 13:13). 

OUR LORD AND MASTER 

■ This presents Jesus' own claim for himself. Develop the 
thought under the two titles: 

I. Our Teacher. Life is a continuous task of learning how to 
live. 

a) Knowing the truth. Jesus knows about God, man, and 
eternal life. 

h) Competent to teach it. Keen syiiapathy. Wise method. 
c) Exemplif3dng it personally. He lived what he taught. 

II. Our Lord. Religion roots in reverence. It calls for obedience, 
o) Possessing authority. Jesus made supreme claims. 

b) Conquering by love. Not by force. 

c) Controlling by sacrifice. He gave himself. 

SUGGESTION 3 
"Who went about doing good" (Acts 10:38). 

THE PEREECT LIFE 

In concisest form and clearest terms the record of Jesus is 
given to us here in terms of human service. 
I. It was personal. He gave himself. 

II. It was wide in range. He went everywhere among the 
people. 

III. It was beneficent. He did no evil all his days. 



Christ the Lord 147 

SUGGESTION 4 

"Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that 
God hath made this Jesus whom ye crucified both Lord and Christ " 
(Acts 2:36), 

JESUS THE LORD 

Note that this is one of the earliest statements of the essential 
Christian position. Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified Nazareth 
rabbi, is made the Lord and Messiah of the world. The text 
contains four items: 
I. Jesus was crucified. 
II. Jesus is Lord. 

III. God's will has wrought this. 

IV. The truth may be surely known. 

SUGGESTION 5 

"But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself 
through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation; 
to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself " 
(IlCor. 5:18,19). 

FRIENDS ONCE MORE 

Jesus is God's great, final appeal to us to make right the wrong 
relations between himself and his children caused by sin. 
I. We need to come back to the Father; the reconciliation is 

on man's part. 
II. The way to come back is through Christ. 
III. Having been made friends of God once more, we are to bring 
the great reconciHation to others. 

SUGGESTION 6 
"Abide in me, and I in you" (John 15:4). 

THE HIGHEST UNITY 

The text derives its meaning from the figure of the vine. 
Jesus speaks of himself as the vine (not the roots or the trunk but 
the whole vine) and of his disciples as the branches, organically 



148 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

incorporated into the organism which is essentially himself. 
This suggests the following order: 
I. The unity of the organism. 
II. The variety of the organs. 

III. The flow of vital energies. 

IV. The attainment of the final purpose. 

SUGGESTION 7 

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that 
live, but Christ liveth in me : and that life which I now live in the 
flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved 
me, and gave himself up for me" (Gal. 2 : 20). 

THE NEW LIFE 

This is Paul's great expression of his own Christian experience. 
The following development of material is suggested: 
I. The Christian hfe is a life of faith. 
II. The object of that faith is the Christ. 

III. That life is essentially different from that which was lived 
without reference to Christ. 

IV. The essential factor of the new life is the resident, personal 
Christ. 

SUGGESTION 8 

"Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature 
[or there is a new creation]; the old things are passed away; 
behold, they are become new" (II Cor. 5:7). 

RENEWAL 

I. "In Christ." Study this familiar phrase in the letters of 
Paul. What does it mean? A personal friendship. Iden- 
tity of motives and purposes. The residence of Christ in the 
soul. 
II. The loss of the old. Our former ideals and aims seem poor 
and weak when they are compared with Christ's. 
III. The gain of the new. The old does not perish in an instant 
entirely; it is changed and thus becomes hew. 



Christ the Lord 149 

SUGGESTION 9 

"Till we aU attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the 
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fuUgrown man, unto the 
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4: 13). 

THE MEASURE OF MANHOOD 

Define the stature of Christ as the goal of our human develop- 
ment: 
I. His physical strength. A body unbroken by a vice. 
II. His clear mind. Thinking about the deepest matters in 
life with unfailing insight and accuracy. 

III. His deep and rich emotions. Tender and sympathetic; 
never sentimental or maudlin. 

IV. His firm wiU. Making decisions and holding steadily to the 
choice of life's supreme task. 

V. His moral insight. Clean ethical discrimination and utter 

loyalty to conscience. 
VI. His spiritual vision and loyalty. Living so near to God that 
he never lost his sense of the Father's love and care. 

SUGGESTION lO 

"Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" 
(Phil. 2:5). 

THE master's motives AND OUR MASTER-MOTIVE 

Approach this subject from the standpoint of psychology. 
William James shows us that the motives from which we habitually 
act are the "hot place " in our consciousness. When those motives 
are religious we are religious. When our master-motives are those 
from which Jesus acted habitually we are in moral and spiritual 
imion with him. When his ruling motives control us we become 
Christians. This is one of the ways in which he dwells in us and 
we abide in him. Therefore we need to understand: 
I. The ruling motives of Jesus. 
II. How to make them ours. 
HI. The results of this union in motive with Christ. 



CHAPTER X 

SIN AND FORGIVENESS 

As a result of the War the new world that is emerging 
must reckon with changed conceptions of sin that have 
come out of the experiences of the soldiers. Also there 
are new values imported into our thought of forgiveness, 
as we have been compelled to meet our enemies, both in 
individual and in national relations. Not only was the 
War itself the most colossal of crimes, but it has been 
conducted in such defiance of all that humanity had 
agreed upon as righteous and just that we are staggered 
by the definitions of evil and overwhelmed by the con- 
crete expressions of wrong standards of action. So 
many of the old sins were small. The fearful butchery 
of innocent people in Belgium and Poland and Armenia; 
the piracy of the seas that sinks without trace; the 
"no prisoners" conduct of reprisals — the world never 
has seen anything like this before, so terrible and so 
colossal. It gives us a conception of gigantic sins which 
we never had appreciated. Sin had been in the world 
before, however. As has been said: 

Probably the years of peace contained as much grotesque 
evil as the years of carnage. Cancer, consumption, to say nothing 
of sj^philis, existed then; and the underworld was crawling with 
iniquities much more unlovely than the shattered forms of a 
battlefield. AU that the war has done has been to make the 
problem of evil living to many minds that had hitherto known little 
of the more tragic aspects of life. We must not aUow ourselves 
to imagine that our experiences of these past three years have 

ISO 



Sin and Forgiveness 151 

created any new difficulty for Christianity. They have only 
diffused the knowledge of their existence, and have given edge 
and point to them for us all.^ 

The preacher will hardly need to deal practically, 
however, with national responsibility for the sins of the 
War or its conduct. The average minister is quite 
powerless to control a situation involving nations at war. 
The moral standards of the smaller group, the com- 
munity and neighborhood, and of the individual come 
more closely within the range of the preacher's task. 

Let us look, therefore, at some of the changes that 
have taken place in the conception of sin within recent 
years, and particularly as a result of the Great War. 
Perhaps at no other single point does modern thought 
register a greater transformation. In the first place 
the preacher must reckon with the whole change that has 
taken place in our estimate of sin as a result of the social 
interpretation of Christianity. This is nothing less 
than revolutionary. 

Professor Rauschenbusch has made this fact vivid 
by the story of the milkman, a member of a strict church, 
who was disciplined for having sworn a profane oath 
when he found that the health department of Toronto 
had spilled his product and marked his cans because the 
milk contained in them was foul. But the significance 
of this act on the part of the church Hes in the grounds 
upon which it was based. The offender was put out 
of the synagogue, 

not for introducing cow-dung into the intestines of babies, but 
for expressing his behef in the damnation of the wicked in a 

^ Maclean and Sclater, God and the Soldier, p. i8. Copynghl (1918) 
by George H. Doran Co., publishers. 



152 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

non-theological way. When his church will hereafter have 
digested the social gospel, it may treat the case this way: "Our 
brother was angry and used the name of God profanely in his 
anger; we urge him to settle this alone with God. But he has 
also defiled the milk supply by unclean methods. Having the 
life and health of young children in his keeping he has failed in 
his trust. Voted, that he be excluded until he has proved his 
lasting repentance." The result would be the same, but the 
sense of sin would do its work more inteUigently.^ 

The signij&cance of this practical situation has been 
realized by a relatively small number of the most far- 
sighted and courageous preachers of the immediate past. 
But it must break with full light across the path of every 
minister who is ready to bring his message to his genera- 
tion with the full power with which it is now charged as 
a result of the War, It will require no less courage than 
has been shown by the brave heralds who have often 
been voices crying in the wilderness. The same old 
slogan, "Stick to the simple gospel, " will be heard from 
the timid and the nearsighted. But at last the gospel 
is becoming really simple because it drives into the daily 
life and finds us in the world where we live. 

From another point, also, we are approaching a 
revision of our moral standards. The soldiers have 
a contribution to make to the current ethical ideal. 
Their moral standards have been, of course, shaped to fit 
the conditions of war and may therefore be questioned 
on the ground that they will not be the permanent stand- 
ards for a world at peace. Granting this fact, it still 
remains true that the Great War is sure to modify our 
ideas of Christian moraHty. Perhaps it will give us a 

^A Theology for the Social Gospel, p. 35. Copyright by the 
Macmillan Co., publishers. 



Sin and Forgiveness 153 

new vision of what the moral Ufe of the Christian ought 
to be. 

A single quotation from the literature created in the 
trenches will serve to set forth the problem in its sim- 
plest terms: 

I was in an ofi&cers' mess sometime ago, and they were dis- 
cussing a new arrival. One of them said, "He is very quiet; 
he doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, doesn't play bridge, and doesn't 
swear." "He must be religious," concluded another. That is 
it. The words were not spoken in malice. It is the conception 
of a Christian that we have given them. If the new officer 
had been described as cheerful, generous, hospitable, and brave, 
they would not have concluded that he must be religious. Yet 
which description is the more Uke Christ ? How brave, cheerful, 
generous, and hospitable Christ was! He was the sovl of chivalry. 
No virtue had been associated with the new officer that a swindler 
and criminal might not possess, and yet he had been at once 
classified as a Christian. But men possessing the cardinal Chris- 
tain virtues of charity, humility, joy, generosity, hospitality, 
hope, courage, and self-sacrifice are not classified as Christians, 
but merely as "good fellows." They are "white men." These 
"white men" may be in the church or out of it. There is, in the 
popular mind, no necessary connection. That is the tragedy 
of the church.^ 

In almost identical terms Donald Hankey describes 
the moral ideals and standards of the soldiers. He says: 

Here were men who believed absolutely in the Christian virtues 
of unselfishness, generosity, charity, and humiUty, without ever 
connecting them in their minds with Christ; and at the same 
time what they did associate with Christianity was just on a par 
with the formahsm and smug self-righteousness which Christ 
spent his whole life tr3dng to destroy.^ 

^ Tiplady, The Cross at the Front, p. 94. Copyright by Fleming H. 
Revell Co., publishers. 

2 A Student in Arms, Series i, pp. 108, 109. Copyright by E. P. 
Dutton & Co., publishers. 



154 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

How clear it is that here we have a moral standard 
which is not only inadequate but wholly false. The 
standards of Jesus were not these superficial convention- 
alities. The problem of the moral standard was vividly 
presented early in the War in the letters from the soldiers. 
One of the most striking of these, which was widely 
quoted in America, was as follows: 

The eccentricities of our chasseurs at Grenoble? Yes — I 
am aware of all this, yet they are good fellows. If they know how 
to fight, they also know how to amuse themselves, and, my 
Heavens, who should reproach them for this? Here, after our 
men have been a whole month in the trenches, when they go down 
to Plainfaing, they behave Uke sailors after a long voyage, "they 
go to extremes," bottles, cigars, gay songs — everything enters in. 
And their chief cannot deal severely with it; in fact, he should 
not do so. How little it matters if, after all these careless pranks, 
these poor devils can dash bravely forward and "over the top." 
It is superfluous to assure you that the follies of your nephew are 
of a very Hmited extent. A few extra glasses of old wine, some 
cigarettes, and, to be quite honest, some smiles for the young 
Alsatian girls, that's all. Do not fear the damnation of my 
sovil.^ 

This letter is from that same young Jean Rival, 
who said so clearly, "I will die as a Christian and as a 
Frenchman."^ It puts the soldier's sense of sin in clear 
light and forces some readjustments in our Puritan scale 
of values. 

Then our own American boys went into the War and 
Christian workers went overseas to help them in their 
religious life. They also ran against a new set of con- 

^ Quoted in Maurice Barres, The Faith of France, p. 238. Copyright 
by Houghton Mifflin Co., publishers. 

* See p. 190. 



Sin and Forgiveness 155 

ditions. The conventional Puritan standards, referred 
to by Tiplady and Hankey, were forced into strange 
adjustments. The matter is set forth by Fred B. 
Smith, the treasurer and general field secretary of the 
Y.M.C.A. War Work Council in France. The following 
quotation is from the Literary Digest of August 17, 
1918: 

Warning is given to congregations that they must be ready 
to mark the changes wrought in their pastors whom they have 
released for service "over there" and not be shocked thereby. 
For among the soldiers these men have found " the finest reUgious 
spirit you could imagine, " but "no particular piety. " Mr. Smith 
gives in the New York Times Magazine a concrete instance of the 
change thus wrought in the clergymen at the Front: 

"I remember particularly one preacher who came to France 
with the behef that he would save a lot of the soldiers from the 
tobacco evil. His personal feehngs against tobacco were so strong 
that he felt himself unable to sell the weed in one of our canteens. 
This was not discovered until the clergyman had been put in 
charge of a hut immediately behind the hues. 

"One night there was considerable infantry activity in this 
sector. At dawn the walking cases among the wounded began 
returning to a rest-station far behind the 'Y' hut. A party of 
twelve or thirteen under a sergeant stopt at the hut. 

"The secretary-clergyman saw wounded men returning from 
the trenches for the first time. They said they were 'broke' 
and asked for chocolate. He gave it to them. He asked the men 
if they wanted anything else. 

"The sergeant told him that the only other thing they needed 
was cigarets. They needed them badly. There was a supply 
in the hut. The antitobacco clergyman hesitated for about 
one-half second. Then his program for saving men from nicotin 
went by the board. He passed cigarets around to each of the 
wounded men. They departed for the rear. 

"In a few minutes another group came along. They, too, 
needed something to smoke. Once more he abandoned his 



iS6 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

principles. A third group appeared. Again the cigarets were 
distributed. 

By this time the clergyman discovered that his supply of 
matches was practically exhausted. The fourth batch of visitors 
completely consumed it. 

"For the rest of the day this crusader against tobacco found 
himself doing the only thing that wovdd enable him to look his 
wounded countrymen in the eye as they stopt at the hut for rest. 
He kept a cigaret glowing in his own lips all day long so that each 
boy would be able to get a light!" 

There is no man who speaks more by the book in 
reference to the judgment of young men, especially the 
American student body, than Fred B. Smith. For years 
he has been speaking to groups of men, holding personal 
interviews and entering into the confidences of young 
men in an unusual degree. He has written his impres- 
sions of the moral standards of our men at the front in 
the American Magazine for November, 1918, under the 
title ''Four Sins That the Soldiers Say They Hate." 
First he makes this remark concerning the results of his 
experiences before the War: 

Before the war, I often vistied our universities as a Y.M.C.A. 
worker, and took advantage of this opportunity to question the 
students about their ideas of right and wrong. I found then that 
they had a fairly uniform code of morals. Over and over again, 
when asked what they considered the worst sin a man could be 
guilty of, they would give the same answer, "ImmoraUty." 
After that they put drinking, gambUng, dishonesty, and so on. 

Apparently it was a universal standard, for, no matter where 
the test was made, the same things were put into the list and in 
the same relative positions. 

When Mr. Smith went to France to work with the 
soldiers as he had done with all classes of men in America 
he decided to bring out their moral ideal by such a series 



Sin and Forgiveness 157 

of questions as had yielded him such excellent results at 
home. He had no difficulty in securing the replies to 
his questions. They were given orally and in written 
form. But the results were surprising. The virtues and 
the vices that had been so easily defined at home were 
not at all the same as those which were stressed abroad. 
Mr. Smith extended the range of his inquiry; there was 
no change in the results. He took counsel with such men 
as Dr. John H. Finley, Judge Lindsey, and Raymond 
Fosdick. They agreed that the conclusions were valid 
and confirmed them by the judgment of the soldiers as 
expressed to them. Mr. Smith says: 

All these tests, among widely separated groups, produced 
answers so nearly identical that it seems beyond question that we 
may take the result as the code of morals which our soldiers have 
set up for themselves. 

Now, what is this code ? 

First — Courage. 

Second — Unselfishness. 

Third — Generosity. 

Fourth — Modesty or humility. 

These four qualities were put at the top by such an over- 
whelming majority that there was absolutely no question of their 
place there. And when we reversed the process and asked for 
the "meanest sins," the answers checked up the same. For the 
sins placed at the head of the hst were: 

First — Cowardice. 

Second — Selfishness. 

Third — Stinginess. 

Fourth — Boastftdness. 

Or, as the men put it, "being a blowhard." 

Those were the things they most despised in others and most 
dreaded in themselves. Next to these came drunkenness and 
immorahty, with a scattering of other things, like gambling, 
cruelty, profanity, and so on. 



158 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

It seems strange to me now that, at first, I was a little dis- 
appointed. I had imagined they would name a sequence of 
vices led by immorality, tangible things you could get hold of and 
dramatize eloquently. This seemed a come-down to things that 
were vague and even trivial; a kind of hot milk diet which strong 
men would find very unsatisfying. 

Mr. Smith did not stop with his sense of surprise and 
disappointment at what he had discovered. He is not 
that sort of a man anyway. In his article, therefore, 
he goes on to discuss at length the significance of this 
idea of sin called out by the War. We cannot follow 
this in detail, but the following paragraphs give the gist 
of his conclusions: 

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed that these 
soldiers had gone down to bedrock. They had passed the super- 
ficial layer of what is merely legal or illegal, and had reached the 
tilings which are fundamental. And these qualities, these traces, 
which they have made the basis of their code, are fundamental 
not merely in their life as soldiers; they are just as truly the basis 
for all right living, anywhere and everywhere. 

For, as I see it, immorality, drunkenness, and gambling 
cannot live side by side with courage, unselfishness, generosity, 
and humihty. The more you study this set of standards your 
boys have placed before them, the more you wUl be amazed by 
the unerring way in which they have picked out the great essentials 
of character. War strips the veneer from life. And just because 
they are soldiers, these young men have instinctively let the surface 
things go, and have found the influences underneath which mold 
that surface. 

At first glance one is oppressed by a certain sense of 
fear at the readjustment of moral values suggested above. 
Does this not mean that we shall undervalue certain most 
essential and sacred factors in the moral Hfe ? Surely 
profanity and sexual looseness and non-churchgoing 



Sin and Forgiveness 159 

represent real evils, and the moral values that they 
stand for must be preserved. Therefore we are reluc- 
tant to see anything done that shall in any way displace 
them from the position which they always have held in 
our definition of the Christian moral standard. 

There is no doubt that we ought to be jealous for 
the standards of the past. It is no light matter to modify 
them. But on the other hand change does not necessa- 
rily involve destruction, and we can afford to be most 
patient and tolerant of that which effects a shift for the 
better, even if some of the words which seemed sacred 
to us are no longer used in the new statement. There 
can be no doubt concerning the fact that the moral 
standards which the church has elevated into prominence 
have been too largely negative and superficial in their 
character. Tiplady puts this matter clearly: 

Surely with our non-drinking, non-smoking, non-swearing, 
non-gambling, and our attendance at the church, we are but on 
the outskirts both of morals and religion! It is not what a man 
doesn't do that marks him off as a Christian. It is what he does 
and is. The Christian characteristics stand out plainly in the 

gospels. Love is the virtue of virtues The first test, 

therefore, of the Christian is, "Has he charity? Does he love?" 
It is also the first test of the Church. 

I have Uved five long years in the East End of London, and 
have walked by night and day through its miles of stinking streets 
where the poor are housed worse than the rich man's horses. The 
pale, thin faces of the children haunt me as the horrible sights 
on the Somme never will haunt me, for a ragged, starving child 
is more terrible to think of than a youth blown to fragments, or 
lying on a stretcher in mortal agony. The tragedy is deeper and 
more enduring.'' 

^ Tiplady, The Cross at the Front, pp. 96, 97. Copyright by 
Fleming H. Revell Co., publishers. 



i6o The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

He also says: 

Christian conduct must no longer be merely conventional. 
It must be creative. There is a call for spiritual daring and ad- 
venture. As St. Paid Christianized Greece and Rome, so we must 
Christianize industry and politics and abolish poverty and vice. 
To abstain from evil is not enough; we must adventure as Wesley, 
Dr. Barnardo, and Florence Nightingale adventured.' 

Tiplady feels that we ought to have a new moral 
standard which shall bring into action the virtues of 
chivalry. This is what the soldiers at the Front had been 
displaying. They had dared to risk their lives for a 
Cause and to face peril of every kind in the endeavor 
to have justice and truth prevail in lands to which they 
were practical strangers. The title to the chapter in 
which Tiplady makes his appeal conveys the truth in 
brief terms, "The Chivalrous Religion Our Citizen 
Soldiers Will Require. " 

Sherwood Eddy reported the results of his obser- 
vations among the soldiers in France and said that the 
moral standards obtaining in the trenches ''are the 
sanctions of group morality. They [the soldiers] 
have very lax ideas about drunkenness and sexual 
irregularity, but they have very strict ideas about the 
sacredness of social obligations within the groups to 
which they belong."^ Mr. Eddy finds that the virtues 
admired most by the soldiers are courage, brotherliness, 
loyalty, honesty, and cheerfulness. This brief quintet, 
while not comprehensive or final, is about the same in 

' Tiplady, The Cross at the Front, p. io6. Copyright by Fleming 
H. ReveU Co., publishers. 

' With Our Soldiers in France, p. 133. Copyright by the Associa- 
tion Press, pubUshers. 



Sin and Forgiveness i6i 

the minds of nearly all who have written on the moral 
standards of the trenches. 

Raymond Fosdick wrote concerning the moral life 
of the soldiers: 

I saw our troops storm Vaux on July i; I saw the marines 
holding the lines at Chateau Thierry early in June, and I have 
seen the conditions under which our fellows habitually Uve in the 
trenches at the Front. Somehow, after what I have seen, I 
have not much patience with those people back home who fret 
about the morals of our Army. For in a big sense, our fellows 
are Hving on a plane such as men seldom attain. In point of 
devotion, unselfishness, cheer under hardship, a sense of honor, 
and a spirit of fortitude and courage, they make the people who 
piously condemn their morals back home look small and mean. 

Even in the narrowest interpretation of the word, we have little 
cause to worry about the morals of our men. The official statistics 
show that the venereal-disease rate in the American Expeditionary 
Forces is less than i per cent. This is better than the conditions 
here in the camps at home, and it is infinitely smaller than the 
prevailing disease rate in the civilian population of the United 
States. As far as drunkenness is concerned, I saw thousands of 
American troops under all conditions, both at the Front and in 
the rear, and I did not see a single man intoxicated. 

I do not want to give the impression that our men with the 
American Expeditionary Forces are saints — they are not. They 
are human fellows, and even when out of the trenches are living 

a life of which we Americans back home can well be proud 

The question is whether we are worthy of them.'^ 

Donald Hankey was courageous enough to seek a 
general principle which might be followed in the effort 
to discover a moral standard for the Christian life which 
will inevitably emerge into being as a result of the War. 
He formulated his conclusion in these words : 

We have got to follow what we think right quite recklessly, 
and leave the issue to God; and in judging between right and 

" Quoted in the Literary Digest, August 17, 1918. 



1 62 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

wrong we are given only two rules for our guidance. Every- 
thing which shows love for God and love for man is right, and 
everything which shows personal ambition and anxiety is wrong.^ 

If the Great War has revealed the enormity^ of sin 
it has also shown more clearly than we had recognized 
before in a long time the responsibility for it. In the 
presence of Belgium, Poland, and Armenia the moral 
sense of humanity says, "Someone is responsible for 
this." We had grown somewhat apologetic about our 
sins. When our ancestors and our environment and our 
misfortunes had been assigned the share of burden 
which we readily loaded upon them there was a most 
comfortably slight weight of responsibility left to weigh 
us down. But no thoughtful person can deal with the 
fact of responsibility so lightly any longer. Little 
boys with their hands cut off and young French girls 
with their babies force us to say as we never said before, 
"Someone is to blame for this and those who did it 
shall bear the burden of their wrongdoing. " Now this 
is altogether to the advantage of clear and clean moral 
thinking. We are getting closer to the heart of God. 
We are locating the sanctions of morality where they 
belong, in the nature of God himself. The time has 
come to infuse fresh meaning into two texts: "For I 
am Jehovah your God .... ye shall therefore be 
holy, for I am holy" (Lev. 11:44, 45); "Ye therefore 
shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" 
(Matt. 5:48). 

^ A Student in Arms, Series 2, p. 170. Copyright by E. P. Dutton 
& Co., publishers. 

* A French ofl&cer said to Eapling, "The boche is saving the world 
because he has shown what evil is. " 



Sin and Forgiveness 163 

Here is a double text for a sermon on "The Warrant 
for Righteousness." It gives the preacher the oppor- 
tunity to lay the foundations of such a new sense of 
moral obligation and responsibility as will stiffen up 
the whole life of the church and the community. Just 
this plunge of practical application would not have 
been possible without the situation created by the Great 
War. 

What is the Christian preacher to do as he attempts 
to set forth the standard of morality which the church 
is surely formulating under the influence of the social 
gospel and the chivalry of the Great War ? 

He will turn first of all with fresh joy and satisfaction 
to the teaching of the prophets and of Jesus. Both are 
in perfect accord in their break with the external and 
conventional standards of morahty that tend in every 
age to become artificial and false. Jesus and the proph- 
ets laid their emphasis upon motives instead of con- 
ventionaHties. They pierced to the heart of conduct 
and insisted upon the positive virtues. Under the stress 
of this new conception we shall do the same. This will 
not afford any warrant for profanity or gambHng or 
social vices; it will not cease to place moral value on 
personal habits that may have been justified by the 
stress of war but are not permanently justified by the 
conditions of ordinary life. We shall, however, preach 
concerning the great positive and chivalric virtues as 
never before, with clearness and confidence. 

Forgiveness will be seen to have a social value. 
The purpose in pardon is redemptive and restorative. 
Forgiven sinners are not only to "go and sin no more," 
but they are to fill their pardoned lives with positive good. 



164 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

They are to be the agents of a new redemption, for they 
have been lost and were found. Then forgiveness 
will not seem to be a sort of grandmotherly indulgence 
on the part of God. It will have ethical significance 
brought into it. It will serve a purpose in the economy 
of the age that is to be re-made. Those who will bring 
in the new era will be not only the victors who made 
it possible, but the restored penitents who have learned 
through blood and tears not only that the wages of 
sin is death, but also that we are forgiven in order that 
we may serve and bless. 

Suggestions for Sermons on Sin and Forgiveness 

suggestion i 

"For my people have committed two evils: they have 
forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out 
cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jer. 2:13). 

THE FOLLY OF SIN 

Study first the figure of the water as it represents God's 
relation to the soxil. The water is vitally necessary; it brings 
resources for life; it cools and comforts and refreshes. 
I. Forsaking the hving spring. Sin is separation from God 

and goodness. It puts self in the place of the Creator. 
II. Hewing out the leaking cistern. "It is hard work to be 
tough." And when we have learned, the job is unsatisfac- 
tory. The cistern leaks. 

SUGGESTION 2 

"For the prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing 
in me" (John 14:30). 

IMMUNE 

The "prince of the world" stands for evil in every form. It 
is everywhere. How may it be successfully met and overcome? 



Sin and Forgiveness 165 

I. Not by denial or escape. Whatever our theory may be, 

in practical experience we must face sin as a reality. 
II. Not wholly by active struggle. We must fight sin in open 
battle. But the enemy is too strong for us alone. 

III. By becoming immune to sin as Jesus was. There was no 
ground for the evil to root and grow in the soil of his soul. 

IV. Identify our purposes with those of Jesus in order that we 
may be free from sin as he was. 

SUGGESTION 3 
"A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (Gal. 5:9). * 

BE careful! 

This text is hke a sign placed near a dangerous curve or 
crossing. It tells us to beware the contagious danger that lies 
in little sins. 
I, The apparent insignificance of the yeast in comparison with 

the whole lump of dough. 
II. The energies in the yeast ; indefinite multiplication. 

III. Contact necessary to contagion. 

IV. The result: the lump permeated and transformed. Be 
careful! 

SUGGESTION 4 

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hj^ocrites! for ye 
tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the 
weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but 
these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other un- 
done" (Matt. 23:23). 

LITTLE VIRTUES AND BIG SINS 

Perhaps a more concise text would be vs. 24, "Ye blind 
guides, that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel." 
If this is used, note the graphic explanation of it given in The 
Jesus of History by T. R. Glover (p. 48) : 

Then he [the Pharisee] sets about straining what he is going to drink 
— another elaborate process; he holds a piece of muslin over the cup and 



1 66 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

pours with care; he pauses — he sees a mosquito; he has caught it in 
time and flicks it away; he is safe and he will not swallow it. And then, 
adds Jesus, he swallowed a camel. How many of us have ever pictured 
the process, and the series of sensations, as the long hairy neck sUd 
down the throat of the Pharisee — all that amplitude of loose-hung 
anatomy — the hump — two humps — both of them slid down — and he 
never noticed — and the legs — all of them — with whole outfit of knees 
and big padded feet. The Pharisee swallowed a camel and never noticed 

it A modern teacher would have said, in our jargon, that the 

Pharisee had no sense of proportion — and no one would have thought the 
remark worth remembering. 

In developing the subject we discuss two divisions: 
I. The accidential virtues, which we ought not to leave undone. 
II. The essential virtues, which we must not fail to do. 



SUGGESTION 5 
"Evil shall slay the wicked" (Ps. 34:21). 

sin's supreme enemy 

Begin the discussion with such a familiar proverb as, "The 
destruction of the poor is their poverty." 
I. External opposition to sin. 

a) Sin must be fought. Our life is an inevitable combat 
between good and evil. Moral passiveness or neutrality 
is impossible. 

b) This struggle is long and costly. In the end goodness is 
triumphant because it is good. 

c) There is a great ally for the external forces that are fighting 
evil; it is the self -destructive energy in sin itself. 

II. Internal seH-destructive energies of sin. 

a) Illustrations: intemperance, alcohol finally destroys its 
victims; l)ang, the Mar is finally hanged with his own 
rope; selfishness, the selfish man may save his body but 
he loses his soiJ. 

b) These energies are silent, constantly at work, deadly in 
effect. 



Sin and Forgiveness 167 

c) Therefore ally your positive opposition to sin with the 
inner destructive agencies of evil, and be sure of the victory 
of goodness. 

SUGGESTION 6 

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a 
man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal. 6:7). 

HARVESTERS 

This is a straight sermon on "wild oats." 
I. Sowing the seed. 
II. The growing process. 

III. The crop. 

IV. The end. 

The moral experience of American fighting forces wiU give 
fresh material on this subject. 

Turning specifically to the "sins that the soldiers hate," 
as Mr. Smith has defined them, a preacher will discover at once 
that they are timely in civHian life as well as among the fighting 
forces. Also, it is undoubtedly best to preach on the correspond- 
ing virtues rather than the vices. These virtues are courage, 
unselfishness, generosity, and modesty. The following notes refer 
to these four subjects in either their positive or negative aspects. 

SUGGESTION 7 

"A cheerful heart is a good medicine; 
But a broken spirit drieth up the bones" (Prov. 17:22). 

GOOB MEDICINE^ 

Introduce this by a study of the factors that produce morale, 
showing the place of courage and good cheer among them. 
I. The sources of courage. 
II. The culture of courage. 
III. The blessings of courage. 

' Other suggestions concerning courage are found on pp. 29-33. 



1 68 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

SUGGESTION 8 

"Woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and hath not 
another to hft him up" (Eccles. 4: lo). 

FALLEN IN NO MAN'S LAND 

Introduce the discussion by any of the famiUar incidents 
concerning the relief or rescue of wounded men in No Man's 
Land during the War. 

I. The loss and despair of loneliness. 
II. The joy and reward of comradeship. 

III. Wounded men in the No Man's Land of industrial and social 
hfe. 

IV. Where and how we can help. 

SUGGESTION 9 

"He that findeth his hfe shall lose it; and he that loseth his 
life for my sake shall find it" (Matt. 10:39). 

LIPE THAT IS LOST AND FOUND 

The apparent contradiction of the text and its real consistency. 
I. Life is enriched in order that it may be expended. 

II. Expenditure of life is the only sure way of its enrichment. 
HI. The blessed reaction of the two principles in experience, 

SUGGESTION TO 

"Zebulun was a people that jeoparded their hves unto the 

death, 
And Naphtali, upon the high places of the field" (Judg. 5:18). 

UNRECKONING LOYALTY 

The call of duty demands that men respond with a reckless 
loyalty, jeopardizing their lives if necessary. 
I. Calculating and prudential service. 

II. The cost of full loyalty: death and the high places of the 
battlefield. 

III. True loyalty dares all this and pays the price. 



Sin and Forgiveness 169 

SUGGESTION II 

"But I hold not my life of any account as dear unto myself, 
in comparison of accomplishing my course" (Acts 20: 24 [margin]). 

THE COST 01" DUTY 

I. To do one's duty is the supreme engagement of life. 
II. Physical existence is not so important as the doing of God's 
will. 

III. The lesser good of living must not be held at the cost of the 
higher good of doing God's wiU. 

SUGGESTION 12 

"There is that scattereth and increaseth yet more; 
And there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it 
tendeth only to want" (Prov. ii : 24). 

THE DIVIDED BLANKET 

Fred B. Smith quotes a soldier in one of his meetings where 
the matter of sin was being discussed as placing unselfishness 
at the head of the hst of virtues, and illustrating his contention 
by the following incident: 

Well, when we were going in the other night, on our way to the 
trenches, I forgot my blanket. It was darned cold, too. You fellows 
know that. And it looked to me like I was going to freeze, out there. 
But when my pal found out the fix I was in, instead of guying me for 
being such a fool as to forget my stuff, he took out his knife and cut his 
own blanket in two and gave me half of it. I don't know whether that's 
what the preachers would call being good — but it's good enough for me! 

This suggests the title above. 
I. It is cold in No Man's Land. 
II. Some men have forgotten their blankets. 
in. Other men have blankets. 

IV. What are you doing with your blanket ? 

SUGGESTION 1 3 

"Let not him that girdeth on his armor boast himseK as he 
that putteth it off" (I Kings 20:11). 



170 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

THE TIME TO BOAST 

I. The tendency to boast when putting on the armor. 
II. The test of courage while under arms. 

III. The time to boast would be when the armor is put ofif; but 
the true soldier does not boast at all. 

SUGGESTION 14 

"So the tongue also is a little member, and boasteth great 
things" (Jas. 3:5). 

THE GREAT LITTLE BRAGGART 

. I. How easUy we boast. 
II. The folly of boasting. 

III. The positive mischief of boasting. 

IV. How to curb our tendency to boast: by discipline from 
others; by self-control. 



CHAPTER XI 
DEATH, COMFORT, AND IMMORTALITY 

The Christian preacher always has been a messenger 
of comfort and hope to souls who must sometime in- 
evitably face disappointment, suffering, and death as a 
part of mortal life. The Christian message on these 
points always has been clear. Jesus defined it; the 
Christian theology has formulated it; Christian preachers 
have declared it; pastors have employed it in active 
ministry. Thus in homes, in hospitals, and beside 
countless open graves the Christian assurance has 
brought hope and help to wounded hearts. 

Then came the Great War. At first the stories 
of disaster and death came faintly to us. Even with 
the speed of modern communication France was still 
far away. But steadily the matter grew more personal. 
The more adventurous spirits that had joined the fight- 
ing forces suffered the inevitable losses that come with 
warfare. Then our own part became definite and the 
hazard grew. Then the first casualty hsts appeared 
in the press. Suffering and death in unprecedented 
proportions and in forms more cruel than nature ever 
wrought in her most cruel moods fell to our lot also. 
The burdened cables seemed almost to have sobbed 
beneath the sea. The letters and diaries of the soldiers 
brought the whole terrible business home. These men 
were having such first-hand dealing with death and pain 
as secure civilians could not understand. The veil 

171 



172 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

of mystery and fearsomeness was stripped off the sub- 
ject and a revealing radiance lay over it. 

These letters have been marked by a fine reserve. 
The soldiers do not babble about death or speak of it 
with flippancy or sentimentalism. They recognize 
its constant presence, accept the fact cheerfully, and 
speak of it freely as ''to go West." 

Donald Hankey writes : 

Personally, I believe that very few men indeed fear death. 
The vast majority experience a more or less violent shrinking from 
the pain of death and wounds, especially when they are obliged 
to be physically inactive, and when they have nothing else to 
think about. This .... is a purely physical reaction which can 
be, and nearly always is, controlled by the mind.^ 

Coningsby Dawson puts the soldiers' point of view 
in these words: 

Ahve or "gone West " I shall never be far from you; you may 
depend on that — and I shall always hope to feel you brave and 
happy. 

And yet, so strange a havoc does this war work that, if I 
have to "go West" I shall go proudly and quietly. I have 
seen too many men die bravely to make a fuss if my turn 
comes.^ 

As we read the letters of the soldiers we cannot fail 
to be impressed by the frankness and fearlessness with 
which they face the supreme issue. Many pages of 
quotations might be given. The following are only a 
few, but they are t5rpical of what the soldiers have 
uniformly written about death. 

^ A Student in Arms, Series 2, p. 121. Copyright by E. P. Dutton 
& Co., publishers. 

^ Carry On, pp. 80, 85. Copyright by John Lane Co. 



Death, Comfort, and Immortality 173 

The first illustration comes from a young Italian 
soldier whose letters have been published in part. The 
editor says: 

Before departing for the front, Enzo Valentini made his wUl 
and testament, to be opened only in the case of his death, the last 
poetic words of which are: "Be strong, Httle mother. From 
beyond he sends to you his farewell, to papa, to his brothers, to 
all who have loved him — your son who has given his body to 
fight against those who would kiU the Hght."^ 

The following is an extract from another letter of the 
same soldier: 

Try, if you can, not to weep for me too much. Think that 
even if I do not return, I am not for that reason dead. It, my 
body, the inferior part of me, may sufifer and die, but not I. 
I, the soul, cannot die, because I come from God and must return 
to God. I was born for happiness, and through the happiness 
that is at the bottom of aU suffering, I am to return into everlasting 
joy. If at times I have been the prisoner of my body, it has not 
been for always. My death is a liberation, the beginning of the 
true life, the return to the Infinite. Therefore, do not weep for 
me. If you think of the immortal beauty of the Ideas for which 
my soul has desired to sacrifice my body, you wiU not weep. 
But if your mother's heart mourns, let the tears flow. They will 
always be sacred, the tears of a mother. May God keep count of 
them; they will be the stars of her crown.^ 

In another volume we find the following words: 

What are our Hves worth when we think of the years of 
happiness and peace of those who will follow us and those who may 
survive us. We labor for to-morrow, in order that there may 
be no more wars, no more spilling of blood, no more kUling, no 
more wounded, no more mutilated victims; we labor, we whom 

' N. P. Dawson, The Good Soldier (1918), p. 3. 

* From a letter of Enzo Valentini, of Perugia, quoted in The Good 
Soldiery p. 4. 



174 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

our mothers will so weep for, in order that other mamas may never 
know these bitter tears. In truth, when one thinks of the centuries 
that this peace will last, one is ashamed of the rebellious movements 
which the flesh is guilty of at certain moments at the thought of 
deatH.^ 

We quote but one more extract, this from the letters 
of a young poet who had made himself an honored name 
by his writings before his death in the Great War: 

Death is nothing terrible after all. It may mean something 
more wonderful than hfe. It cannot possibly mean anything worse 
to the good soldier. So do not be unhappy but no matter what 
happens walk with your head high and glory in your large share 
of whatever credit the world may give me.^ 

This manly and fearless attitude of mind on the part 
of the men who were actually face to face with death 
must effect a transformation in the manner in which the 
fact will be treated in the pulpit. Death will never 
again be used as a nursemaid's bogey to frighten re- 
luctant sinners to the mourner's bench. The ancient 
"deathbed" illustrations and threats of sudden loss 
of life had well-nigh vanished from the preachmg of 
the most intelligent churches; but they still prevailed 
among the more emotional types of rehgious expression 
and were used by the evangeUsts to quicken the tread of 
penitents along the sawdust trail. But now they surely 
are gone, never to return. Death has been given a 
noble dignity and will be accepted as an essential factor 
in Ufe, not to be kept veiled under a fair name or feared 
like a ghost expected to walk in gruesome suddenness 

^ Captain Andr6 Cornet- Auquier, A Soldier Unafraid, p. 30. Copy- 
right by Little, Brown & Co., publishers. 

2 "Letters and Diary of Alan Seeger," quoted in The Good Soldier, 
p. 69. 



Death, Comfort, and Immortality 175 

out of a dark corner, but rather to be incorporated 
into a fearless and useful life, 

Life that shall send 
A challenge to its end, 
And, when it comes, say. Welcome, Friend. 

Turning now to the interpretations of the fact of 
suffering and death which have been published, we are 
impressed by the number and character of the voices 
that have spoken. They range from the notes of denial 
to the "demonstrations" of personal immortality by the 
disciples of spiritism. 

Mr. Galsworthy says: "Not one Englishman in ten 
now really believes that he is going to live again. " 
He also says, concerning the French soldiers: "The 
poilu has no faith at all now, if he ever had, save faith 
in his country." Mr. Wells refuses to discuss the mat- 
ter at all, saying: "The reahty of religion is our self- 
identification with God .... and the achievement of his 
kingdom, in our hearts and in the world. Whether we 
live forever or die tomorrow does not affect right- 
eousness."^ 

Winifred Kirkland disposes of Galsworthy's super- 
ficial judgment in a single stinging sentence : 

One wonders if it is conceivable that Mr. Galsworthy has 
read the many brief, immortal credos of the many Englishmen 
who have left us their breathless, blotted memoirs of the trenches, 
or has been deaf to the triumph songs of parents who have sur- 
vived them, or that he can fail to have been stirred by the flaming 
faith of the young soldiers of France.^ 

^ God the Invisible King, p. xix. Copyright by the Macmillan Co., 
publishers. 

* The New Death, p. 7. Copyright by Houghton MiflBin Co., pub- 
lishers. 



176 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

It is an ungracious act to call a distinguished man 
an ignoramus; but it is effectively done here according 
to the merits of the case. 

Turning to the discussions of death and immortahty, 
the preacher will find Harry Emerson Fosdick's Assur- 
ance of Immortality a satisfying statement. He does 
not base the confidence in immortal life upon the teach- 
ing or resurrection of Jesus, as the Christian apologetic 
has so often done. He shows that our faith in the life im- 
mortal is grounded in: (i) the scientific affirmation that 
the universe is reasonable; (2) the reHgious faith that the 
universe is friendly; (3) the indorsement of the world's 
spiritual seers ; (4) the voice of our own noblest moods 
and moments ; (5) the value of the truth for daily living. 

Perhaps the most significant recent American dis- 
cussion of the subject is The New Death by Winifred 
Kirkland. This appeared first as an essay in the 
Atlantic Monthly and was later elaborated and published 
in book form. Certain points made by the author are 
significant for the modern preacher's work. The dis- 
cussion is carried on quite independently of any scientific 
or reHgious considerations; nor does it deal with theories 
concerning immortality. The point of view is presented 
in the following paragraphs : 

"A study of the New Death cannot too often emphasize the 
point that it is not a study of abstract truth about death, but a 
study of the fact that myriads of people are to-day ordering their 
lives on the h5rpothesis of immortahty. "^ 

"Not for a century has interest in the great themes of death, 
immortahty, and the life everlasting been so widespread and so 

'Winifred Kirkland, The New Death, p. 21. Copyright by 
Houghton Mifflin Co., publishers. 



Death, Comfort, and Immortality 177 

profound. The war has made a new heaven, let us trust that it 
may aid in making a new earth. "^ 

This new conception differs in at least three respects 
from the current ideas concerning immortality which 
have obtained in the past. 

First, it is not something reached by the moral and 
intellectual leaders of the people and handed down to 
them by their teachers and guides. On the contrary, 
the millions who hold it have not looked either to the 
scientists or the theologians for leadership in this matter. 
They have shaped their own faith and made their own 
affirmations. The new idea of death is popular. 

"It is not always that the popular mind moves in advance 
of accredited intellectual leaders, but it appears that to-day the 
common people have become their own prophets, that a belief in 
personal survival is becoming so strong an influence in thousands 
of humble and bereaved homes that it would seem as if novelists 
and psychologists should reckon with it as an important phase of 
the contemporary, however little they accept it as a philosophy 
for themselves. "2 

"The New Death, now entering history as an influence 
.... is a great intuition entering into the hves of the simple, 
the sort of people who have made the past and will make the future. 
It does not matter in the least whether or not the intellectuals 
share this intuition; .... what matters is the effect upon 
emergent public life and private of the fact that everyday men and 
women are beheving the dead live."^ 

Again, this new idea of death and immortality is 
an intuition, as indicated in the paragraph last quoted. 
The common people who hold it so widely and so 
steadfastly have not reached their conclusions through 
processes of reason. Nor do they rely upon proofs of 

' Ibid. p. 9. » Ibid., p. 6. ^ Ibid., p. 15. 



178 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

the ordinary kind for the validating of their convictions. 
They put it in such a simple proposition as this: "No 
science can convince us that we have not a soul when we 
feel it suffer so. "^ 

Finally, this new conception of death influences 
practically the conduct of living men and women. 
We remember the dismay with which we read the 
conclusions of Dr. Osier, to the effect that whatever 
men and women believed about immortality, they lived 
and died uninfluenced by their doctrine. Now according 
to this student of the matter, it is quite otherwise. The 
idea works. 

"That our dead are alive and the same that we loved, and 
that they joyously continue the upward march, is the dominating 
faith of the New Death. There is in this creed nothing new, except 
the incalcxilable novelty that never before did so many people 
evolve it, each for himself, and never before did so many people 
practice it as the deepest inspiration of their daUy conduct. "^ 

"There is nothing new about immortality, there is nothing 
new about God; there is everything new in the fact that we are 
at last wUling to live as if we believed in both. This is the re- 
ligion of the New Death. "3 

This study of the subject ought to be seriously reck- 
oned with by any preacher who seeks to bring the comfort 
of the gospel to those who are suffering from the death of 
their dearest in the Great War. 

A problem forced to the center of our thinking by 
the present situation is the "salvation" of soldiers who 
have fallen in action. There are two judgments on 
the matter. One is voiced by Cardinal Mercier in the 

' Winifred Kirkland, The New Death, p. 1 8. Copyright by Houghton 
Mifflin Co., publishers. 

' Ibid., p. 85. s Ibid., p. 95. 



Death, Comfort, and Immortality 179 

famous pastoral, "Patriotism and Endurance, " of Christ- 
mas, 1914. He wrote: 

I was asked lately by a staff officer whether a soldier falling 
in a righteous cause — and our cause is such, to demonstration — 
is not veritably a martyr. Well, he is not a martyr in the rigorous 
theological meaning of the word, inasmuch as he dies in arms, 
whereas the martyr delivers himself, undefended and unarmed, 
into the hands of the executioner. But if I am asked what I 
think of the eternal salvation of a brave man who has conscien- 
tiously given his life in defence of his country's honor, and in vindi- 
cation of violated justice, I shall not hesitate to reply that without 
any doubt whatever Christ crowns his miUtary valor, and that 
death, accepted in this Christian spirit, assures the safety of that 
man's soul. "Greater love than this no man hath," said Our 
Saviour, ''that a man lay down his life for his friends. " And the 
soldier who dies to save his brothers, and to defend the hearths 
and altars of his country, reaches this highest of aU degrees of 
charity. He may not have made a close analysis of the value 
of his sacrifice; but must we suppose that God requires of the plain 
soldier in the excitement of battle the methodical precision of the 
morahst or the theologian ? Can we who revere his heroism doubt 
that his God welcomes him with love ? 

This is put still more clearly in the words which a 
priest, serving in the armies of France, is reported to 
have used constantly in his addresses to the soldiers: 
"Tell each one of your men that he who dies in honor 
on the field is sure of going straight to heaven. '"^ 

Another expression of this idea may be found in the 
signed editorial of E. S. M[artin] in Life (August 
15, 1918), the concluding paragraphs of which read as 
follows : 

We speak of the dead in the casualty lists as having "lost 
their lives," but do we think so ? 

' Barres, The Faith of France, p. 38. Copyright by Houghton 
Mifflin Co., publishers. 



i8o The Gospel in the Light oj the Great War 

The deeper we get into the war the less we shall think so; 
the more most of us will feel that our dead have not lost their 
lives, but quite the contrary. 

That feeling is one of the great things that the war is bringing 
to pass. For four years the war has kept before Belgium and 
France and Britain the proposition that there are things that are 
worth more than life. To that suggestion the people of those coun- 
tries, and later the Italians, have steadfastly assented. Now it 
comes our turn, and we shall give the same testimony. 

Behind so much unanimity must be a silent confidence that 
lives given in a great cause are not lost, not extinguished, but 
persist, unchanged except for better, in personaHty. 

That is the great consolation for the readers of the casualty 
lists. 

On the other hand it is reported that Rev. Mark 
Matthews of Seattle, preaching in the Fifth Avenue 
Presbyterian Church in New York in August, 191 8, 
was greeted with applause (said to have been extended 
by visitors and not by the regular attendants) when he 
affirmed: "Hard as it may be, the impenitent American 
boy, in uniform, killed in battle, dies in his sins and is 
lost. I honor him as far as it is possible. I wish he 
had repented and accepted Christ. But he had his 
chance. " 

This is the other side of the matter. Preachers who 
are ministering to the parents of soldiers who have died 
in battle will do some earnest thinking before they are 
willing to occupy either position. How does anyone 
know whether the soldier in uniform killed in battle has 
"repented and accepted Christ " or not ? " Greater love 
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for 
his friends. " When an American boy gives his life for 
the cause of freedom and makes the supreme sacrifice 
in order that all boys who live after him may be free 



Death, Comfort, and Immortality i8i 

from the peril that has cost him this sacrifice, does he 
have to be a member of a church in order to assure us 
that he has "accepted Christ"? 

Passing now to the task of preaching on these sub- 
jects, this question is pertinent : How far shall a minister 
seek in his preaching to justify God or to furnish a 
theodicy for the people ? Some men make the attempt. 
This is most unwise. It is not possible to explain the 
strange ways of God. We may fully believe that there 
is reason as well as love behind the events that issue 
in the death of a kinsman or comrade. But to prove 
it is most difficult. We can understand the words that 
Professor George Herbert Palmer of Harvard wrote 
concerning the death of his wife: "Though no regrets 
are proper for the manner of her death, who can contem- 
plate the fact of it and not call the world irrational, 
if out of deference to a few particles of disordered matter 
it excludes so fair a spirit?"^ 

The only safe attitude of the minister as he seeks 
to bring comfort to troubled hearts is to stand humbly 
and reverently in the presence of the experiences that 
come and say that the judgments of the Lord " are true 
and righteous altogether." 

We have to make our appeal to faith and the future. 
As Fosdick says: "It is entirely possible that the inci- 
dental evils of a process, leading toward a worthy con- 
summation, may be explicable when the process is 
complete."^ The present woes of life are inexplicable; 
but the results will doubtless vindicate the love and 
wisdom of the hard and mysterious process, as the 

'^ Quoted in Fosdick, Assurance of Immortality, p. 12. 
^ Ibid., p. 123. 



i82 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

finished vase justifies the potter's firm touch and the 
biting furnace flame. 

The question arises inevitably at the conclusion of 
this discussion, What weight is to be given to the Ufe 
and words of Jesus in giving the wistful world a satis- 
fying message concerning the life immortal? Did not 
the experience of Jesus with death lay the grounds of 
assurance of immortality beyond all question ? 

Dr. Fosdick apprehends the tendency of the hour, 
doubtless with his usual accuracy of insight, when he 
does not make the experience of Jesus the chief warrant 
for the assurance of immortaHty. To many minds this 
is probably not a convincing argument. But we believe 
that there is more force in it than at first appears. 
Granting considerable difference of opinion concerning 
the physical resurrection of the body of Jesus, there 
must be general agreement from a fair reading of the 
New Testament and of the following Christian history 
that the spirit of Jesus was not extinguished by death. 
He hved and loved and accomplished specific deeds. 
This truth can be made the basis of Christian preaching 
with new freedom. Our confidence in the life immortal 
rests on many grounds; but one of the chief of these is 
the fact that Jesus Christ is alive again forevermore 
and because he lives we shall live also. 

Suggestions for Sermons on Death and 
Immortality 

suggestion i 

"For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: 
now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I 
was fully known" (I Cor. 13:12). 



Death, Comfort, and Immortality 183 

WITH PERFECT VISION 

Such a text needs illustration. Naturally the thought of the 
"steamed" mirror will come at once to mind; when the moisture 
is rubbed away we can use the mirror. Or the corroded mirrors 
that have been found in the ruins of Roman cities and may be 
seen in musexmis may be used to explain the text. Their silvered 
and polished surfaces are useless now ; they must be burnished once 
more. But in any condition, the mirror does not give us the satis- 
faction of the look into the eyes of our dear ones "face to face." 
That is the final revelation ; and in the days of sorrow we must look 
ahead to the life eternal for this revelation. 

Another illustration comes from a recent book, the work of 
a great preacher, and is so clear that it is worth exact quotation: 

I have in my mind's eye a little Parable of Consolation. It consists 
of an old book-marker, once belonging to my dear mother, and very 
precious now to her son. A text is worked on it, in blue silk on the 
pierced card. A few years ago I found it in a book, after having long 
lost sight of it. I saw first its "wrong side"; and that was just an un- 
meaning tangle of confused and crossing threads. Then I turned it 
round. On the "right side," in beautiful clear letters, produced by the 
tangled stitches, I read these three deep, glorious, eternal words, "God 
is Love. " 

Was it not a parable? Here on earth we see the "wrong side" 
of the Great Consoler's work. There, above, we shall read the "right 
side," in the very Hght of Heaven. We shall understand then that the 
right side was worked out through the wrong side. Our sorrows, your 
sorrows, were the tangled stitches, and all the while they were "working 
out the weight of glory," the glory of seeing at last, "with open face," 
that God is Love. 

Just seven years ago, February 21, 1909, I took that dear book- 
marker up into a pulpit, and let it preach a sermon to stricken hearts. 
At West Stanley, in County Durham, an awful pit disaster had occurred; 
one hundred and sixty-nine men and lads had died together of that 
explosion. On the Sunday evening following I preached there, to a 
church qiute full of mourners. I held up my mother's card to them, and 
pointed out its message of faith and hope. And I happen to know that 
the old book-marker brought more hght and help to the mourners that 
night than all the rest of my sermon put together.^ 

The card to which Bishop Moule refers was photographed and 
reproduced on the inside covers of the little book from which the 

' H. C. G. Moule, Christ and Sorrow, p. 66. 



184 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

foregoing quotation is made. It is a telling illustration of the text 
and truth for which he used it. Without the object itself it would 
be impossible to employ this illustration so effectively; but with 
clear and vivid description it may be done. These old texts and 
mottoes worked with silk, or worsted on pierced cardboard will 
be remembered by all the older members of a congregation. Thus 
the little "Parable of Consolation" may again become a source 
of comfort and courage. 

SUGGESTION 2 

"A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, 
Rachel weeping for her children; she refuseth to be comforted 
because they are not. " 

"Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; 
for thy work shall be regarded, saith Jehovah; and they shall 
come again from the land of the enemy" (Jer. 31 : 15, 16). 

BLESSINGS FROM SACRIFICE 

I. The fact of sorrow and death. It cannot be banished from 
a mortal world. Women's eyes are red with weeping for their 
children "are not." This cannot be denied. 
II. The comfort of God. One's own resolution can do something; 
one's friends can do more; God can do most. Sorrowing 
souls must listen to God. 

III. The rewards are sure. No great sacrifice can be made with- 
out a final blessing coming from it. Our great task, that 
has cost blood and treasure for America, will sometime 
bless the world. 

IV. Our lost ones shall return, not in physical presence, but in 
spiritual fruitage, ennobling us, enriching the nation, bringing 
honor to God. 

SUGGESTION 3 
"Redeem Israel, O God, 
Out of all his troubles" (Ps. 25:22). 

A PRAYER FOR HELP 

I. Israel is in trouble. 
11. Israel cannot escape alone. 
III. God can help Israel. 



Death, Comfort, and Immortality 185 

SUGGESTION 4 

"And he said, While the child was yet alive I fasted and wept: 
for I said, Who knoweth whether Jehovah will not be gracious 
unto me, that the child may live ? But now he is dead, wherefore 
should I fast ? can I bring him back again ? I shall go to him, 
but he will not return to me" (II Sam. 12:22, 23). 

BEACONING SOULS 

I. Our service to the living. The joy and sacrifice of caring for 

those whom we love. 
II. Our loss and loneliness in the death of loved ones. They 

cannot return to us. 
III. Our blessed anticipation. They are beacon lights to us in 
the darkness of the years. 

SUGGESTION 5 
"And might deliver them who through fear of death were all 
their Ufetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2: 15). 

fear's fetters broken 

I. The fear of death. A fact, apparent from the most ignorant 

savage to the majority of cultivated men. 
II. Efforts to break the bondage of this fear. Reason has spoken, 
as in the Dialogues of Plato. Nature has been used as a 
symbol: the wheat and the butterfly. Art has interpreted 
the experience in terms of hope. 
III. The Christian message. Christ has conquered death, not 
by driving it out of human experience, but by showing how it 
is to be made the means to a nobler life here and an immor- 
tal life hereafter. 

SUGGESTION 6 
"Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken away; blessed be 
the name of Jehovah" (Job. 1:21). 

HIS WILL is our peace 

I. God is the giver of all good. We go on our way carelessly and 
forget to thank him. We even dishonor his gifts. A sense 
of their source ought to make us more careful in our use of 
our powers and opportunities. 



1 86 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

II. God's will permits our possessions to be taken away. The 
cause is often our own fault. God permits our loss, however. 
This is a hard doctrine to confess or to understand. 
III. The source of our peace is the sense of God's will. Thousands 
of Christian soldiers have repeated this old faith of Job in 
their letters. How to make our sense of God's will real in 
everyday life. 

SUGGESTION 7 
"Death is swallowed up in victory" (I Cor. 15:54). 

THE PINAL TRIUMPH 

I. Death is apparent defeat for the highest purposes and noblest 
efforts in Hfe. It takes the young, the strong, and the useful 
without discrimination. It takes the statesman and leaves 
the idiot. Is there anything that can conquer this apparently 
universal Conqueror ? 
II. Death may be conquered in the following ways: 

a) The victory of clear and honest thinking. When we 
really think the matter through we cannot rest in the 
idea that death is the end. 

b) The victory of love. Our affections tell us that death 
cannot stop the soul. Love that can suffer and achieve 
so much cannot be obliterated. 

c) The victory of faith. We dare to believe when we cannot 
prove. In the face of all doubt there is something within 
us that still beheves. Trust it. 

d) The victory of Christ. Once it was proved that the soul 
must live beyond death. We can build our confidence on 
what took place in the experience of Jesus. 



CHAPTER XII 
PRAYER 

The Great War has thrown into new prominence 
and perplexity the theory and the practice of prayer. 
Here were millions of people engaged in deadly strife; 
they were praying to the same God; the prayers of both 
could not be answered; is not prayer, then, a hollow 
form and an idle mockery? Millions of prayers were 
offered that the War might not come; more millions 
were offered that the War might cease. But the War 
came and the War continued. How, then, shall a 
thoughtful man regard the worth of prayer? The 
people are still asking this question; the preachers 
must answer it; and before any attempt at an answer is 
made a minister must go over the familiar ground again 
in order to gain new warrants for his personal faith and 
his public message. 

What added light has the Great War thrown upon 
the subject and the practice of prayer? The letters 
of the soldiers and the reports of chaplains are of great 
interest and value on this point. One of the most simple 
and genuine references to prayer is found in the letters 
of Edwin Austin Abbey II. 

You are praying not just for me, but for all of us out here, and 
the German soldiers too. I often think of you at early mass and 
in "St. Saviour's," and so many other times of the day, praying. 
That is the great thing, for it all Hes with God, and in His own way 
He always answers prayers ; so when I think that you and father 
and Father W and Father S and so many others are 

187 



1 88 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

pra3dng, it is a great comfort and strength. When I am under 
fire I pray not only for protection, or a worthy d5dng, but for 
courage, not to lose my control and to help others.^ 

Perhaps the best way in which to define a theory is 
to study the practical life which the theory calls forth. 
Here is a certain report on the practice of prayer, in 
which at least the following factors appear: 

Prayer is a social matter. Many are engaged in it. 
Parents, religious teachers, and the young man himself 
are united in the bonds of a fellowship which is unified 
by the common practice of prayer. 

Prayer is an encouragement. The young soldier 
finds real help from his knowledge that his circle of 
friends are engaged in prayer for him. He may not 
define the reasons, but he feels the influence and it 
stands by him in his hours of peril and waiting. 

Prayer is for definite objects. The young soldier 
asks for what he needs personally to meet the situatioA 
in which he is immediately found. The petition of the 
lad in the trenches is clear and specific. 

Prayer is marked by trust in the wisdom and goodness 
of God. It does not insist upon any certain answer; 
but it is confident that some answer will be given. When 
this comes it will be the answer that is best, because it 
is according to the will of the good Father. This aspect 
of prayer finds expression in the letter of another soldier, 
which contains the following paragraph: 

Of course I have no objection to your teaching VaUie a prayer, 
— why should I have? Only please teach him one thing: that 

^"A Gentleman Unafraid," in Atlantic Monthly (April, 1918), 
p. 462. This letter was to his mother, dated April 18, 1916. 



Prayer 189 

his prayer may not be answered, and that if it isn't, he must not 
think God cruel or unmindful. "Thy will be done" is the safety- 
valve in aU prayer, and believers in God must surely think — ^if 
they do not say — those words as a part of every prayer.^ 

Then prayer, according to this young soldier, which 
certainly is in accord with the teaching and practice of 
Jesus, includes our enemies. This is a noble phrase, 
''and the German soldiers too. " The problem of prayer 
for one's enemies always has been a difficult one. We 
have been told that it is apparently more difficult for 
those who have remained at home than it is for the 
soldiers themselves, face to face with those enemies. 
In the letter from young Abbey at the Front there is no 
doubt or hesitation. This American boy wants his 
mother to pray for the German soldiers — who also have 
mothers and a God. 

Turning now to the letters of French soldiers, we 
find many references to the ideal and habit of prayer in 
the correspondence of Captain Andre Cornet-Auquier. 
The following paragraphs show how this gallant young 
officer regarded the matter : 

At the front it is very difficult to pray well, you have so little 
time to yourself, and you are interrupted at every instant. It has 
happened to me, dead with sleep, to drop off into a slumber while 
praying, and when I wake up later in the night, I go right on 
praying in order to put me to sleep again. But God understands 
that, doesn't He ? And anyway, prayer seems to me to be a con- 
stant state. =* 

' Harold Chapin's letters concerning the religious training of his 
child, quoted in Winifred Kirkland, The New Death, p. 89. Copyright 
by Houghton Mifflin Co., publishers. 

=* A Soldier Unafraid, pp. 19, 20. Copyright by Little, Brown & 
Co., publishers. 



I go The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

I feel that I am surrounded with prayers, and I often pray for 
you all. One of my best comrades here is a priest who is also a 
second lieutenant, like myself.^ 

A captain who is a friend of mine and who is a very pious 
Catholic said to me the other day that before every battle he prays. 
Our major answered that it was not the moment for such things and 
that he would do better to attend to his military duties. The 
captain replied: "Major, that doesn't prevent me from command- 
ing, taking orders, and fighting. " I said: " Captain, I do just as 
you do, and I find that it does me good. "^ 

In the last letter of Jean Rival, one of the splendid 
youthful heroes of France, is this paragraph: 

This morning, when only a few yards from the trenches, 
I heard mass and with faith received communion. Should I 
die, I wiU die as a Christian and as a Frenchman. I believe in. 
God, in France, in victory. I believe in beauty, in youth, in life. 
May God protect me to the end. Yet, should the shedding of 
my blood aid towards victory, my God, let Thy will be done.* 

The place and power of prayer in the Kves of the 
home folk is shown by this extract from a letter written 
to his wife by Captain Frangois de Torquat: 

You must realize what a responsibility my company is; 
pray fervently and often so that your poor husband may be equal 
to his task and to the part which he is called upon to play; cold 
chills run down my back when I think of the many lives that wiU 
depend upon me. Their eyes wiU be fixed upon me; therefore 
pray earnestly that I may be at the height of the situation and 
that I may set an example; finally you must pray that if it is the 
will of God, we may see each other and love each other for a long 
time to come.4 

' A Soldier Unafraid, p. 6. Copyright by Little, Brown & Co., 
publishers. 

^lUd., p. 8. 

3 Maurice Barres, The Faith of France, p. 241. Copyright by 
Houghton MiflQin Co., publishers. 

4 IMd., p. 263. 



Prayer 191 

Among the letters of soldiers which have been pub- 
lished, none surpasses those of Alfred Casalis, which are 
contained in the volume, For France and the Faith, 
in their illustration of the meaning of prayer. The 
letters move in an atmosphere of communion with God, 
although they are full of the healthy, happy activities 
of the soldier's Hfe. He writes: 

How one feels the need of meditation after some time of 
barrack life! Here one lets go of himself to such an extent and 
becomes accustomed to living outside of any real communion with 
the Master, to praying with words and formulas only. Oh, that 
those who can, who have the leisure and strength might pray for 
those who can not.^ 

In one of his letters Casalis discusses the subject of 
prayer at some length. Two paragraphs of this letter 
are as follows: 

Finally there remains prayer. We have already spoken 
of it, but the subject is inexhaustible. I do not refer to prayer 
of intercession for others, that they may know how to shape 
their lives to the Father's will of infinite love and that their vision 
of the duty to accomphsh may be ever clearer and more vivid. 

There is also prayer for ourselves. We must pray to be 
pardoned. Pardon is at first the destruction of habits and associa- 
tions of ideas which grow in us so as to paralyze us. Briefly, we 
must ask God to renew our liberty without ceasing.^ 

He asks this significant question in another letter, 
involving a question which is searching and always 
relevant to a clear understanding of prayer: 

Do you not believe that if our Monday morning prayer meet- 
ings were sometimes so cold, it was because we made prayers 
instead of pra3dng ?3 

^For France and the Faith, p. 16. Copyright by the Association 
Press, publishers. 

* P. 80. 3 p. 80. 



192 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

The habit of prayer persisted to the very end of 
Casalis' life. On May 9, 191 5, he fell in a charge. 
His superior ofl&cer, Major Charles Schmuckel, wrote: 

As a friend, as a relative, as a leader, I mourn for all my dear 
soldier boys but especially for yours, who had prayed with me on 
the eve of battle.^ 

On May 15 following the Major himself was killed. 
A comrade of young Casalis wrote, announcing this fact 
to the young man's father, and also adding details con- 
cerning the burial of his friend. Among other items, 
this appears: 

Today I went to recite a prayer over the grave of this dear 
fallen friend. He is buried near the village of Roclincourt within 
the township of that name. His memory wiU remain engraved 
in my heart as that of a comrade and sincere affectionate friend. 
I am a Catholic, he was a Protestant and this difference of reHgious 
opinion in no way interfered with the bonds of friendship which 
were drawing us closer together every day.^ 

The chaplain sent this message to Casalis' parents: 
The eve of the day when he had to advance to the attack, 
instructed of the dangers he was going to run, your son had prayed 
with his major and some others of his battalion. He asked God 
to guard them amidst the shot and shell and in the heat of action. 
His prayer was heard otherwise than we could have desired; 
but may the faith which sustained him up to the end help you 
to endure without a murmur the will of our Heavenly Friend.^ 

At this point we may consider appropriately a book 
which is a most unusual product of the war, A Soldier's 
Confidences with God; Spiritual Colloquies of Giosue 
Borsi, which has recently been published in an English 

' For France and the Faith, p; 96, Copyright by the Association 
Press, publishers. 

' P. 99. ' P. 100. 



Prayer 193 

translation by P. J. Kenedy & Sons in New York. It 
bears the imprimatur of the late Cardinal Farley. The 
author of these quite remarkable conversations was a 
young Italian soldier who lost his Ufe while leading his 
men in a desperate charge. "They found in his pocket 
a volume of his adored Dante, wet with his heart's 
blood, and a written farewell to his mother that was 
published in the leading newspapers of the world and at 
once took its place among the classics of letter writing." 
Borsi has revealed the most intimate emotions of his soul 
in these pages, and it is no wonder that enthusiastic 
Italian religious leaders have called them the "finest 
religious literature that has appeared since the con- 
fessions of St. Augustine." This is extravagant praise. 
But the book is a revelation of the glowing Italian soul, 
especially when it is read by a cool Anglo-Saxon Protes- 
tant like the present writer. The character of the author 
is especially significant. To quote from the Appreciation 
furnished by Arthur Benington, these colloquies were 
"written by no anchorite, no cloistered mystic, but by 
a young man of the world, poet, scholar, amateur 
actor, dramatic critic, commentator of Dante, darling 
of the salons of the gay world of Rome and Florence. " 

The following is from the diary of May 7, 191 5, 
and is entitled, "He Discourses on the Joy of Conversing 
with God": 

Sometimes I have thought that one cannot stand before 
Thee, my Lord, unless he be contrite, grave, trembling, timorous, 
with downcast eyes, but I perceive this is true only in a certain 
sense and at certain times, especially when we have incurred Thy 
wrath, fallen into grievous faults, opposed Thy wiU, deprived 
ourselves of Thy blessed peace. But more often I feel, my sweet 
Friend and Lord, that we must stand before Thee joyously, glad 



194 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

and confident, head erect, fixing sparkling eyes upon Thee, alert 
and prompt to guess at once Thy least command, to obey with 
alacrity and bounding heart. Yes, while the bridegroom is near 
the guests make merry. So long as they hold their Father's 
hand, little children need not be afraid. We must love Thee, 
fear Thee, and serve Thee; but our fear must not be sad, our 
obedience must be that of the son and not of the slave. But 
above aU we must have confidence, confidence and always confi- 
dence, and ever remember, with happy enthusiasm and unlimited 
devotion, that we are in the presence of supreme Intelligence and 
supreme Love. This is the state of mind in which I try to put 
myself, when I gird myself to write, because I feel, O Lord, that 
it is the most favorable, the one that helps me most in talking to 
Thee and listening to Thee. 

Surely this is a manly and appealing method by which 
to practice the presence of God. The book is a most 
unexpected product of the trenches; but if the War can 
bring literature of this kind to the Hght it certainly has 
shown that it has a creative influence upon a certain 
type of mind. These papers prove again that the most 
mystical form of religion may go along with the most 
intensely human and manly type of Christian. With 
Borsi prayer was certainly a constant attitude of the 
soul. 

The whole matter of prayer has been beset by many 
difficulties, the majority of which do not really exist, 
and associated with it have been many sentimental and 
pietistic expressions, which have done harm rather than 
good. The surest and best way in which to sweep all 
these out of existence is simply to go ahead and practice 
prayer. This has been put clearly in a brief paragraph 
by a recent writer: 

I am not going to tell you how to pray, dear Molly, but just 
— to pray. 



Prayer 195 

Prayer, as some one has said, is the consciousness of the 
presence of God.^ 

In seeking to define the matter anew, a preacher 
today cannot do better than to turn again to the famihar 
little volume by Harry Emerson Fosdick, entitled 
The Meaning of Prayer. Within equal compass of 
printed pages there is no book that sets out the whole 
subject so clearly, with such wide range of consideration 
and such perfect command of the delicate problems 
involved in the idea. It is, of course, designed for 
day-by-day study at home and discussion in classes, 
and therefore the arrangement of the material is poorly 
disposed for deliberate reading. This has not impaired 
its usefulness, however, for the minister who is seeking 
to clarify his ideas concerning the meaning of prayer in 
his own life and in the work of the church. 

The inevitable conclusion from the study of these 
soldiers' letters and a re-reading of Dr. Fosdick's 
book is that prayer is an essential part of the Christian 
life and that it should be carried on more faithfully by 
every follower of Christ in a world re-made by war. We 
simply cannot do without it. It is, truly, *'the Chris- 
tian's vital breath, the Christian's native air." We 
are sure to make it more general and more powerful in 
the years immediately before us. Men in the midst 
of shell fire have been praying. Out of their prayer has 
come strength and peace and joy. The preacher must 
not only tell the people this, but he must practice it in 
his own daily life. 

^Richardson Wright, Letters to the Mother of a Soldier, p. 21. 
Copyright by Frederick A. Stokes Co., publishers. 



196 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

Suggestions for Sermons on Prayer 

suggestion i 
Ps. 80. 

THE NATION ON ITS KNEES 

An expository sermon would be appropriate in these times, 
using this great prayer for national forgiveness and restoration 
as material. If the entire psalm is not used, the sermon might 
have for a text verse 3 or verse 19, 

"Turn us again, O God; 
And cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. " 

I. Conversion. 
II. Revelation. 
III. Salvation. 

SUGGESTION 2 

"For this let every one that is godly pray imto thee in the time 
of finding out sin: 

Surely when the great waters overflow they shall not reach 
unto him" (Ps. 32:6). 

THE ROCK ABOVE HIGH TIDE 

Note the margin. In these great periods of national chas- 
tisement and renewal we are bidden to pray. The result is that 
we find a rock so safe and high that the swollen waters cannot 
reach us. 

I. The forces that drive us to prayer. 
II. The rescue that is wrought by prayer. 

SUGGESTION 3 

"And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, 
and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this 
place : yea, hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place ; and when thou 
hearest, forgive" (I Kings 8:30). 



Prayer 197 

THE child's whisper 

Describe for the background Solomon's prayer at the dedica- 
tion of the great temple, of which the text is a part. 
I. The need of helps and means for prayer. 
II. The hstening Father. 
III. The new life that flows from answered prayer. 

SUGGESTION 4 
"God, be thou merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13). 

A TRUE PRAYER 

Put the two into vivid contrast. Then bring out the essential 
characteristics of the publican's petition. 
I. Specific. He called himself the sinner (margin); he asked 

directly for mercy. 
II. Penitent. He made no boast. 

III. Vital. He did not need a new house or a larger bank account ; 
he needed pardon; he asked for what was essential to his 
highest life. 

IV. Trustful. He made his prayer, and went down to his house 
trusting God for the result. 

SUGGESTION 5 

"I exhort, therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, 
intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men; for kings and 
all that are in high place; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet 
life in ell godliness and gravity" (I Tim. 2:1, 2). 

A CALL TO PRAYER 

Prayer is the supreme need in our time as it was in the age 

of the apostles. 

I. The variety of prayer. Four forms indicated in the text. 

We may use: silent, ejaculatory, private, public, written, 

spontaneous. 

II. Objects of prayer. All men. As many as there are persons. 

Especially for those in places of influence. Reason for this. 



198 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

III. Results of prayer, A peaceful, happy, useful, upright life. 
Prayer brings results in character. Prayer works; it is 
an "engine of achievement." 

SUGGESTION 6 

"These all with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer" 
(Acts 1:14). 

OUR SOURCE OP POWER 

Jesus had gone. The task of re-making the world in which 
they lived was rolled on the shoulders of a few men and women. 
.What was the source of their power for this task ? 

I. Inclusive prayer. All prayed. Men and women; young 

and old; strong and weak. 
II. United prayer. It was with one accord. Apparently no 
divided purposes or selfish criticisms or individual aims. 
Countless individual aims and needs fused in a common 
petition. 

III. Steadfast prayer. It was urgent, patient, persistent. 
Like Gordon, who said, "I prayed my boats up the Nile." 

IV. Victorious prayer. According to the records, results came. 
They were even greater than the petition specified. 

SUGGESTION 7 

"My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me: 
nevertheless, not as I wiU, but as thou wilt" (Matt. 26:39). 

THE GLORY OF GETHSEMANE 

This prayer of Jesus is the perfect revelation of the spirit 
of true prayer. It consists of two factors: 
I. A great yearning. Jesus was a young man. His work did 
not seem to be done. He loved hfe. It was right for him to 
yearn for release from pain and death. 
II. A great renunciation. But he laid his life trustfully in the 
hands of God. He was ready to do anything that God willed 
him to do. This is the glory of Gethsemane. 



CHAPTER XIII 
INTERNATIONAL CONVICTIONS AND CONSCIENCE 

As we conclude this study of the changes that the 
Great War had brought about in our thinking and in the 
consequent demands on the modern pulpit, we would 
emphasize the reality of the international consciousness 
and ideal that must hold sway over the civilized world 
in a new way. 

To the Christian this is only a clearer expression of 
the ideal of the Kingdom of God; but there are thou- 
sands of those influenced today by the international 
mind who do not in any way associate it either with a 
reHgious or a Christian view of the world. They have 
discovered the fact that all men are so related to one 
another everywhere that nothing less than a cosmopoHtan 
view of Ufe will do justice to its fundamental meaning 
and value. 

Now whether this feeling has a religious background 
or not, it is the temper to which the modern Christian 
preacher is most happy to speak. It affords him a 
sympathetic response to his message concerning the King- 
dom and he can appeal for the ideals of Jesus with a new 
confidence knowing that they match that which is 
profoundest in the thought and yearning of the time. 

Preachers discern this change in the depth and range 
of popular thinking. Rev. G. Campbell Morgan says: 

In every way the outlook of man is more extensive than it 
was. The universe is bigger than it was two generations ago. 

199 



200 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

That is to say, men know its bigness better than they did. Where 
men thought parochially they are now thinking nationally. Where 
they thought of a nation they are thinking of a commonwealth. 
Where they thought of a world they are thinking of a universe.^ 

It is assuring at this time to find that the Protestant 
Christian churches of America have spoken with clear- 
ness and force. Among the reports presented at the 
Congress on the Purpose and Methods of Inter- Church 
Federations held in Pittsburgh in October, 191 7, was that 
of a Subcommission on International Justice and Good- 
Will. This has been published in the volume, A Manual 
of Inter-Church Work, and reprinted as a pamphlet, 
International Friendship in the Church. The former can 
be purchased from the Federal Council of the Churches 
of Christ in America. The latter may be obtained by 
addressing the World Alliance for International Friend- 
ship, 105 East 2 2d Street, New York City. 

Naturally the question arises in the mind of the 
preacher. How can I perform any part in so ambitious 
a task as " the establishment of a Christian world-order" ? 
It all seems so far beyond the influence of the country 
parish or the village where the preacher does his work! 
But no word spoken and no influence exerted is valueless 
or void of power in the creation of the ideals which move 
the minds and hearts of men. Therefore, however small 
the immediate result may be, every preacher must be 
utterly faithful to his opportunity to think and to speak 
on every occasion in the terms of international thought 
and good-will. 

The report just cited will furnish material for the 
addresses and sermons by which the modern preacher 

' Christ and the World at War, p. 138. Copyright by the Pilgrim 
Press, publishers. 



International Convictions and Conscience 201 

will seek to discharge his function as the creator of good- 
will in the community and the definer of international 
ideals. The World Alliance for International Friend- 
ship stands ready to help with literature and suggestions. 
Any preacher may feel free to write for advice. In 
fact, a great agency is coming into existence for the 
purpose of promoting this mighty movement and no 
preacher need go unadvised in his efforts to meet this 
need. 

One of the most stimulating books for the preacher 
who is thinking his way through this most vast and 
bewildering area of life is The Hope of the Great Com- 
munity by the late Professor Josiah Royce. It puts in 
compact form many of the conclusions that are found 
in fuller form in his larger books. It throws out chal- 
lenging suggestions; it stimulates preaching. The point 
on which Professor Royce is crystal clear is that the 
international ideal and conscience will not in any way 
transgress the rights of the individual nation. The 
following quotation is sufficient to state this clearly: 

The community of mankind will be international in the sense 
that it will ignore no rational and genuinely self-conscious nation. 
It will find the way to respect the liberty of the individual nations 
without destroying their genuine spiritual freedom. Its liberty 
and imion, when attained, will be now and forever, one and 
inseparable.^ 

Turning now to the practical experience of the soldiers 
and sailors themselves, we note the inevitable broadening 
of mind that has come through their contacts in the 
Great War. The allied armies have been formed by such 
a gathering and mingling of races as probably never 

^ The Hope of the Great Community, p. 52. Copyright by the Mac- 
millan Co., publishers. 



202 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

has been seen before. It has been a repetition of the 
external conditions of Pentecost. Whether it shall 
register the enduement of humanity with a new passion 
and power is yet to be seen. Manifestly milKons of 
soldiers cannot have mingled in these new relationships 
without an immense broadening of horizon. Boys from 
Missouri farms and mountain villages have crossed the 
ocean, seen France, fought shoulder to shoulder with 
their own comrades, and been brigaded with the soldiers 
of England and France. There can be only one result 
from such an experience. These lads have had their 
horizons so broadened that they never will allow their 
surroundings to be what they were before the Great War. 
But this change in physical environment is only a 
part of the forces that must effect a transformation in 
their thought and character. They have been in contact 
with the profoundest experiences of life. As Winifred 
Kirkland says: 

Men, however young, however crude, who have for months 
passed every moment under the eyes of death, will not come 
back to us ignorant as they went. They cannot fail to have 
gained new social wisdom, and a bravery to embody it in prac- 
tice to which the old hesitancies in civic improvement and in- 
itiative will seem an amusing cowardice."^ 

What form the enlarged demand of these soldiers 
is to take we may not be able to decide yet. Perhaps 
the hope that it will be the enhghtened insistence 
upon a purer democracy in America may be too sanguine. 
But there certainly is some warrant for beUeving that 
these young citizens who have been in France will express 

^The New Death, p. 125. Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Co., 
publishers. 



International Convictions and Conscience 203 

their wider vision in some such demand as this. The 
author of The New Death believes that this expectation 
is justified and that an international conviction and con- 
science has been born in France, 

After the war each man who has fulfilled his duty to his coun- 
try will have before him a new duty to the world-state. "This 
new state will not be established without blows, despoilings, 
disputes, for an indefinite period, but without doubt, a door is 
even now opening upon a new horizon." .... Duty to others 
is progressive — obligation to family, community, nation, world. 
Advance is retarded if any one of these duties is put out of se- 
quence or exaggerated. At present the soldier has a clearer 
conception of internationalism than has the civilian, who fails 
to see its inevitable place in the solidarity of a man's obUgations.^ 

Among the letters from French soldiers those of 
Albert Thierry are prominent. He was a Socialist and 
was killed in action in May, 1915, Here is his conception 
of the international ideal: 

If the people turn from strife, if the middle class renounce 
their pretensions, then national peace wiU be forever established. 
If innocent of self-seeking, then man is much more closely bound 
to the family of his father and of his mother; one might affirm 
that he remains ever loyal to it, and that its tradition nourishes 
his mind and his heart so long as he has his being. Refusing to 
be self-seeking, even as regards his work, man will advance much 
further in this very field of labor, he wiU regard his trade as a 
means of estabhshing justice. Refusing to be self-seeking, the 
man who works for the people, from whom he has gone forth 
through education and to whom he returns in a spirit of sacrifice, 
learns to give them preference on account of their virtues while 
dedicating himself to the mission of reforming their vices. In 
this way there will be a broadening from the trade to the class, 
the class to the nation; the nation to its various national confed- 
erations, and to the confederation of the world at large; individual 

^ Ibid., p. 144. 



204 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

ambitions and national ambitions will be silenced, their conflict 
will end, and labor on earth will for the first time in history be 
produced in harmony and in peace.^ 

This sketch of the expanding consciousness of the 
individual from the narrowest area of household relations 
into the broadest community of international obligation 
is in accord with clearest Christian thought, as is also 
his idea of unselfishness as the method by which the 
growing adjustment is to be made. Thus the Socialist 
and the Christian come close together. 

The whole international ideal, indeed, may be re- 
garded as only the fellowship of the trenches written 
large. As a group of men fighting in France declared: 

We live under shell fire in a social republic; if such a fraternity 
were prolonged there would no longer be any need to struggle 
one against another.^ 

Another soldier wrote : 

I .think less of myself than I did, less of the heights of personal 
success that I aspired to climb, and more of the service that each 
of us must render in payment for the right to live and by virtue 
of which only can we progress.s 

These letters are consistent with the actions of the 
soldiers in their fraternal relations with one another and 
especially of the chaplains. M. Barres relates the fol- 
lowing incident: 

In the village of Taintrux, near Saint-Die, in the Vosges, 
on August 29, 1 91 4 (on a Saturday, the holy day of the Jews), 
the ambulance belonging to the 14th Corps took fire from the 
German shells. The stretcher-bearers, in the midst of flames and 

^Quoted in Barres, The Faith of France, p. 127. Copyright by 
Houghton Mifflin Co., publishers. 

' Ibid., p. 203. 3 The Good Soldier, p. 85. 



International Convictions and Conscience 205 

explosives, carried out the one hundred and fifty wounded men 
who were there. One of these, who was about to die, asked 
for a crucifix. He begged Mr. Abraham Block, the Jewish 
chaplain, whom he mistook for the Catholic chaplain, to give it 
to him. Mr. Block lost no time; he looked for it, found it, and 
carried to this dying man the symbol of the Christian faith. 
Only a few feet beyond he himself was struck down by an ohus. 
He passed away in the arms of the CathoHc chaplain, Father 
Jamin, a Jesuit, whose recital has made this scene public.^ 

In reply to this Saint-Saens said to Barres: 

Most assuredly, this union of a priest, a pastor, and a rabbi 
is extremely touching; but must one admire it ? Viewed from a 
serious religious standpoint, it is not commendable. A faith 
which is tolerant is no longer a religion but religiousness. It is 
through such tolerance, so greatly the fashion, that religions perish, 
for they die of themselves, they are not kiUed by anyone; when 
persecuted they become strengthened.^ 

What shall we say to this? If such a position is 
tenable, what hope is there for an international ideal 
to be realized either through the Christian missionary 
enterprise or by any international program ? The only 
answer we can make is that, granted all the reservations 
which may be warranted by loyalty to doctrines or 
institutions, there is still room for such practical fellow- 
ship as the Great War has made possible; and these 
generous relations do not in the least involve the sur- 
render of positions which are quite distinct if not even 
positively antagonistic in private judgment. A more 
tolerant but no less vital and virile faith has been wrought 
out of the Great War. 

^ The Faith of France, p. 88. Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Co., 
publishers. 

' Ihid., p. 290. 



2o6 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

One of the most significant relationships that is 
growing clearer out of the Great War is that of the 
missionary enterprise to the ideal of the Kingdom of 
Ck)d and of international good-will. We are now aware 
that the missionary is the true altruist and statesman 
and that the enterprise of Christian missions is the 
nearest approach to an international program that has 
thus far been evolved by man. 

We have thought of Christian missions in terms that 
were too narrow and did scant justice to the ideals that 
lie behind them. It has taken centuries of thought and 
action to bring out the scope of the Kingdom of God as 
Jesus conceived it and as his followers have groped into 
successively larger appreciations of it. The promoters 
of the missionary movement have been charged with 
going to serve the black needs that were far away and 
neglecting the white needs at their own doors. But 
this was most unjust. As a matter of fact it has been 
the people who were most alert to the needs of their 
own neighborhoods who have also been most concerned 
with the needs of those who were far off. The reason 
for this is that they had caught the vision of the Kingdom 
of God and have sought to realize in a program the 
good-will of Jesus. They have believed that the 
"City of God cannot be less than world-wide, and must 
gather into it the desirable things of all nations, must 
recognize among its citizens no distinctions, except of 
varying kinds of honour and use, between colour and 
race and sex and kind."^ 

In no narrow sense of the word but in the truest 
conception of the idea, modern preaching may be, as 

' Bishop Talbot in Christ and the World at War, p. 36. Copyright 
by the Pilgrim Press, publishers. 



International Convictions and Conscience 207 

it never has been before, missionary preaching. As 
we have noted, this involves a deepening of the sense 
in the word "missions"; but it brings us with hope and 
courage to the definition of the international ideal in 
the terms of Christian achievement. 

The preacher, therefore, finds himself immediately 
and thoroughly at home in this roomy area of inter- 
national good-will. He has been used to breathing its 
tonic atmosphere in all his effort to teach and practice 
Christian missions. One of the most stimulating sources 
of inspiration, although it is not so recent as the letters 
from which we have just quoted, is the work of Dr. 
John Henry Barrows and Dr. Charles Cuthbert Hall 
in their endeavor to interpret Christianity to the mind 
of India.^ The reading or re-reading of these books is 
commended just now to preachers in America who would 
understand how closely the international ideal and the 
enterprise of Christian missions correspond. As Dr. 
Barrows says: 

Breaking away from the so-called Kingdom of Heaven, 
represented by the Jewish state, He [Jesusl launched a new and 
better commonwealth, giving it laws in the Sermon on the Mount, 
describing its spiritual, and hence pervasive, character in a score 
of parables, placing its sovereignty in the soul, and lifting it out 
of the ancient provincialism which was yet great enough to dream 
of a imiversal commonwealth of God.^ 

Dr. Sidney L. Gulick is another teacher of the unity 
between the international ideal and Christian missions. 
He speaks of "establishing a new world-order, the order 

^ See Christianity the World Religion, by John Henry Barrows; 
Universal Elements of the Christian Religion and Christ and the Eastern 
Soul, by Charles Cuthbert Hall. 

* Op. cit., p. SI. 



2o8 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

of Golden Rule Constructive Internationalism. " Again, 
he says, "World Militarism or Golden Rule Internation- 
alism — these are the alternatives."^ But the Great 
War has given the final answer to the program of 
world-mihtarism. Therefore, according to Dr. Gulick, 
we are finally faced with the task of achieving an 
internationahsm that squares with the Golden Rule. 
But that is the program of Christian missions. 

Dr. Fosdick is ready to assert the identity of the two 
ideals. He says: "The missionary enterprise is the 
Christian campaign for international good- will. "^ 

Mr. J. Lovell Murray agrees with Dr. GuKck. He 
says: 

The two broad principles that are contending today for su- 
premacy in international relations are self-advantage and service. 
The ultimate expression of the one is militarism; of the other, 
foreign missions .3 

Again he writes : 

There has also been growing in Christians during recent 
years a sense of social obligation, a desire to have a share in the 
Christianizing of aU human relationships within our communities. 
IntemationaUze that idea of social Christianity and you have the 
modern missionary aim in one of its most important aspects. 4 

It is unnecessary to multiply authorities for this 
conclusion, that the consummate expression of the 
international ideal which has been defined as a result of 
the Great War ought to find realization in an enlarged 

^ America and the Orient, pp. ix, 4. 

^ The Challenge of the Present Crisis, p. 94. Copyright by the 
Association Press, publishers. 

3 The Call of a World Task, p. 58. Copyright by the Student 
Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, publishers. 

* Ihid., p. 148. 



International Convictions and Conscience 209 

and glorified program of Christian missions. As Profes- 
sor D. S. Cairns says: 

The only Christianity that can prevail in the coming age is 
one that, learning from the present tragedy, declares that Christ 
shaU have dominion over our whole international life.^ 

The final and most glorious result of the Great 
War, then, is a new conception of internationaHsm in the 
terms of Christian missions. To this ideal we believe 
our young men and women are to rally. The great 
missionary extension of Christianity is ahead of us. The 
noblest achievements of Christian service are in imme- 
diate prospect. The supreme opportunity of the Chris- 
tian preacher is just beginning in a world re-made by War. 

Suggestions for Sermons on the International 
Ideal 

suggestion I 
"Am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen. 4:9). 

"the heresy of gain" 
This text reveals the dawn of social responsibility in the 
human mind. The title used is trite; but there is hardly a better 
one. We cannot avoid responsibility for one another. This fact 
plunged the world into war. A similar sense will unite the world 
to heal the wounds of war. 
I. The wrong that has been done. 
II. The responsibility that cannot be avoided. 
III. The pimishment that must be met. 

SUGGESTION 2 
"In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, 
and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into 
Assyria; and the Egyptians shall worship with the Assyrians. 

^ Christ and the World at War, p. 45. Copyright by the Pilgrim 
Press, publishers. 



2IO The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, 
a blessing in the midst of the earth; for that Jehovah of hosts 
hath blessed them, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and 
Assjnia the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance" 
(Isa. 19:23, 25). 

THREE NATIONS ONE IN GOD 

A strange statement for those who had been proud of their 
position as the "peculiar people" of Jehovah. Note: 
I. The cementing power of commerce. 
II. The value of united worship. 

III. The blessings that flow from united purpose. 

IV. The loving benediction of the God who has a separate name 
for each object of love. 

SUGGESTION 3 

"Have we not all one father? hath not one God created 
us ? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, 
profaning the covenant of our fathers ?" (Mai. 2 : 10). 

PRACTICAL BROTHERHOOD 

I. We all have one divine Father. 
II. We know that our fathers were in covenant relations with 

God. 
III. Therefore the charge of treachery is the greater: 
a) Against God. 
h) Against their friends. 

SUGGESTION 4 

"Thou hast had regard for the gourd, for which thou hadst 
not labored, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, 
and perished in a night ; and should not I have regard for Nineveh 
that great city, wherein are more than six-score thousand persons 
that cannot discern between their right hand and their left band, 
and also much ccittle ?" (Jonah 4: lo, ii). 



International Convictions and Conscience 211 

GOURDS AND MEN 

The serious loss to our Christian consciousness because the 
book of Jonah, with its wonderful message concerning the love 
of God for all mankind, has become a storm center of debate as 
to its literal accuracy. When the book is mentioned the first 
thought is, Did the whale swallow Jonah ? rather than. How can 
we reahze the ideal of God's loving care for humanity? The 
truth is missed through mischievous insistence on tmnecessary 
debate. This text is the great a fortiori argument of the book. 
I. God works for hvmianity's welfare. 
II. God guides the process of humanity's growth. 

III. God is patient through this long process. 

IV. God regards humanity as precious. 

V. God loves and labors for all mankind. 



SUGGESTION 5 

"Ye yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man 
that is a Jew to join himself or come unto one of another nation; 
and yet unto me hath God showed that I should not call any man 
common or unclean" (Acts 10:28). 

A NEW WORLD 

This is the great revelation to the mind of Peter, in which he 
saw a new world. The discussion falls naturally into two heads: 
I. None but Jews. 

What a reversal of conditions! The Jews once put all other 
men outside the circle of their fellowship. Then for cen- 
turies they suffered a similar experience. This is gradually 
changing. Peter's ideals would have made Christianity a 
Jewish sect. 
II. No man common or unclean. 

Now he discovered a new universe. Its boundaries were as 
wide as humanity. No man was to be despised; all men 
were to be loved and helped. Peter's vision made Christianity 
a universal reUgion. 



212 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 

SUGGESTION 6 

"And he made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the 
face of the earth" (Acts 17:26). 



THE NATION ABOVE THE NATIONS 

This is the confession of faith of Paul. There has been fre- 
quent use of the term super in reference to men and things. 
This text defines the Supernation. 
I. God is the Creator and Lord of the Supernation. 
II. The nations are to dwell together in the Supernation. 
III. The Supernation is to possess and bless the whole earth. 

SUGGESTION 7 

"I am debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the 
wise and to the fooUsh" (Rom. i : 14). 

THE OBLIGATIONS OF PRIVILEGE 

Note the way in which this text reverses ordinary judgment. 
Paul was an educated Pharisee. He would naturally have said, 
Greeks, Barbarians, foolish men, and wise men are under obligation 
to me. Christianity reverses this. It puts obligation upon the 
strong. 
I. The obligation to give material help. 
II. The obhgation to share our ideas and ideals. 

III. The obligation to give moral aid. 

IV. The obligation to bring Christ to men and men to Christ. 

SUGGESTION 8 

"All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on 
earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, 
baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and 
of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever 
I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the 
end of the world" (Matt. 28:19, 20). 



International Convictions and Conscience 213 

THE GREAT COMMISSION 

These are the marching orders of the Christian church and the 
personal commandment to every Christian. 
I. The eternal authority. 
II. The message of life. 

III. The seal of the threefold name. 

IV. The mastery of the enlarging truth. 
V. The abiding Presence and Power. 

SUGGESTION 9 

"The Kingdom of the world is become the Kingdom of our 
Lord and of his Christ: and he shall reign for ever and ever" 
(Rev. 11:15). 

THE GREAT CONSUMMATION 

I. The kingdoms of the world must become a league of nations, 

a world-kingdom devoted to human welfare. 
II. The Master of the world-kingdom is the Christ of God. 

III. This kingdom shall endure forever. 

IV. This kingdom comes gradually and we must give our lives 
to the process of realizing it. 



INDEXES 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



Abbey, Edwin A., II, 187 

Ainsworth, Percy. The Pilgrim Church. 

Quoted, 32 
Apologetic literature, The new, 141 
Arnoult, Joseph, 70 
Atlantic Monthly, 55 
Augustine, St. Quoted, 88 

Barres, Maurice. The Faith of France, 58, 

69-72, IS4, 179, 204 
Bible, source of sermon material, So-53 
Borsi, Giosu&. A Soldier's Confidences 

with God. Quoted, 142, 143, 193 
Brooks, Phillips, 78 
Browning, Robert, 27 

Cairns, Prof. D. S., 90 

Cartoons, Use of, in preaching, 58 

Casalis. For France and the Faith. 
Quoted, 12, 191, 192 

Cassidy, Lieut. Kenneth, 56 

Chadwick. Dedication Ode, 112 

Chaplains, Work of, 19 ^ 

Chicago Evening Post. Editorial quoted, 
4-6 

Chivalry in religion, 160 

Christ and the World at War. Quoted, 100, 
112, 121, 139, 144, 200, 209 

Christ: defining the religion of the new 
era, 8; the church must embody, in; 
what it means to embody, 136; power 
of, to transform character, 137; ideas 
regarding and union with, 138; as 
Savior and Lord, essential to Christian- 
ity, I3S-37 

Christ in Flanders, 139 

Christianity and the new era, 3 ; Popular, 
to be renovated, 4; not discredited by 
Great War, 6; defined, 89; discussed, 
103-6; its distinct message, 13 s 

Church, The Christian, 89, 106-16 

Clergy and laity, 18 

Conifort, 171 

Courage, Preachers inspiring, 26 

Cornet-Auquier, Capt. Andxe. A Soldier 
Unafraid, 174, 189 

Crothers, Rev. Samuel M. Quoted, 24 

Dawson, Coningsby. Quoted, 41, 42, 81, 

82, 172 
Dawson, N. P. The Good Soldier. 

Quoted, 121, 173, 174, 204 
Dawson, W. J., 81, 82 
Death, 172-86 
Deiman, Chaplain Harry, 19 
Democracy, 72 
Dieterlin, Maurice, 71 
Doyle, A. Conan, 13 



Eddy, Sherwood. With Our Soldiers in 

France. Quoted, 80, 91, 107, 160 
Ellis, William T. Quoted, 2, 122 
Era, The new, 4, 22; how it is to be 
constructed, 6; its moral aims, 34 

Faith or Fear? Quoted, 90, 109, 119, 136, 

137 
Father de Gironde, 71 
Forgiveness: its social value, 163 
Fosdick, Harry E. The Challenge of the 

Present Crisis. Quoted, 4, 9, 37-39, 

43. 95, 208 

. The Meaning of Prayer, 195 

. The Assurance of Immortality, 

176, 182 

Fosdick, Rasrmond, 161 

Galsworthy, John, 17s 

Gleason, Arthur. Our Part in the Great 

War. Quoted, 25, 36, 37 
Glover, T. R. The Jesus of History. 

Quoted, 164 
God, The fact of, 117-124; realized by 

Christ, 124-26; his providential care, 

127-30; Communion with, 193 
Good Soldier, The. Quoted, 92 
Gospel, Its function in making a new 

world, 8 
Gulick, Sidney L., 207 

Hankey, Donald. A Student in Arms. 
Series i. Quoted, 18, 20, 41, 79, 104, 
109, 153; Series 2. Quoted, 14, 79, 
127, 161, 172 

Holmes, Rev. John Haynes, 35 

Horton, Rev. Robert F., 41, 52 

Hussey, Dyneley. Quoted, 28 

Immortality, 176-78 

International sympathy of ministers, 26 

Jefferson, Rev. Charles E., 35 
Jesus the Revealer of God, 124 
Jones, Rev. J. D. Quoted, 138 

Kettle, Thomas, 42 

Kingdom of God, 89, 99-103; and democ- 
racy, 72, 73 

Kirkland, Winifred. The New Death. 
Quoted, 2, 44, 45, 121, 123, 175, 176, 

177, 178, 188, 202, 203 

Knight, WilKam Allen. War Time "Over 
Here." Quoted, 92 

Language, Conventional, in preaching, in 
Lanier, Sidney. Quoted, 130 
Lansing, Secretary Robert. Quoted, 2 
Lauder, Harry. Quoted, 117 



217 



2i8 The Gospel in the Light of the Great War 



Lee, Robert E., 67-69 
Lincoln, Abraham, 63-67 
Literary Digest, The, 55 
Lowell, President A. Lawrence. Quoted, 
44. 

McKeever, William A., 93 

Maclean and Sclater. God and the Soldier. 

Quoted, 128, 130, ISO 
Man: his worth, 78-87 
Manual of Inter-Church Work, A, 200 
Martin, E. S., 179 
Matthews, Rev. Mark, 186 
Mazzini. The Duties of Man and Other 

Essays, 61-63 
Mercier, Cardinal. The Voice of Belgium, 

54; Quoted, 178 
"Message" in preaching, 17, 18 
Minister, The Christian: duties in the new 

era, no 
Ministers: in the Great War, 7, 19; 

Influence of war upon, 20-22; and 

peace, 35 
"Mission of Repentance and Hope" 

(England), 113 
Missions, Christian, 206 
Moral standards. Christian, 108, 152 
Moule, H. C. G. Christ and Sorrow, 183 
Murray, J. Lovell, The Call of a World 

Task. Quoted, 4, 140, 208 
Myers, F. W. H. St. Paul, 141 

Nation and church, 113 
Neutrality in the Great War, 37 
Nonresistance, 40 

O'Brien, Lieut. Pat, 93 
Orchard, Rev. W. E., 35 
Orthodoxy, 2 

Oxenham, John. The Vision Splendid. 
Quoted, 123 

Palmer, George Herbert, 181 
Parable of the sower. The, 10 
Patriotism, Preaching, 60-77 
Patterson, Catch-my-Pal, 49 
Paul: his experience of Christ, 144 
Peace, Principles of permanent, 2 
Pictures, Use of, in preaching, 58 

Prayer, 187-98 

Preacher, The: as creator of public 

opinion, 24, 25; as literary craftsman, 

48; as thinker, 48, 49. 
Preaching: criticism of, 9, 12, 17; factors 

in, 10; and the age, 11; forces acting 

against, 17; emphasizing relation of 

faith and conduct, 108; facing modem 

issues, III. 
Preston, Harry D., 83 
Prophets, Old Testament, as patriots 

60-61. 
Public opinion: its importance, 25 

Rauschenbusch, Walter. A Theology for 
the Social Gospel. Quoted, 151 



Red Cross Magazine. Quoted, 83 
Religion: its reality, 88-99; in the 

trenches, 122 
Religious education, 18 
Rival, Jean, igo 
Royce, Josiah. The Hope of the Great 

Community, 201 
Roziferes, Pierre de, 70 

Saint-Saens and Barr6s, 205 

Salvation, 178-81 

Schurz, Carl, 69 

Scott, Dixon. Quoted, 42 

Sermon, Character of, 24 

Sin: its character, 150-63; emphasized 

by Great War, 150; its enormity, 162; 

social content, 151; soldiers' idea of, 
^ 156-58 

Smith, Fred B. Quoted, 155, 156, 157, 169 
Social application of Christianity, 151 
Soldiers: their letters, 56-58; influence of 

war upon, 81; and prayer, 187-94; 

their belief in God, 120; as fatalists, 

127; their moral standards, 157; their 

view of death, 172-74 
Soldier Unafraid, A. Quoted, 127 
Speer, Robert E. The Christian Man, the 

Church and the War. Quoted, 8, 39-41, 

73, 74 

Temple, William. A Challenge to the 

Churches, 143 
Theodicy, 181, 182 
Theology determined by democracy, i; 

New, created by Great War, 21 
Thierry, Albert, 203 
Tiplady, Thomas. The Cross at the Front. 

Quoted, 80, 107, 109, 137, 153, iS9. 

160 
Tobacco, 1 55 

Torquat, Capt. Francois de, 190 
Toynbee, Arnold. The German Terror in 

France, 54 

Valentini, Enzo, 172 

War, The Great: creates new conditions 
governing preaching, i; its moral 
motive, 40-44; literature produced by, 
53; revealing character, 79; and the 
doctrine of Christ, 135 

War: what it taught the nation, 5; when 
justified, 41; moral aims of, 34 

Watterson, Henry. Quoted, 55 

Wells, H. G. Mr. Britling Sees It 
Through. Quoted, 117, 118, 119. 

. God the Invisible King, 91, 107, 

118, 175 

Whitmell, Lucy. Quoted, 139 

Wilson, President Woodrow. Quoted, 43 

World Alliance for International Friend- 
ship, 200 

Wright, Richardson. Letters to the Mother 
of a Soldier. Quoted, 28, 194 



INDEX OF SCRIPTURE PASSAGES 



PAGE 

Gen. 1:27 85 

Gen. 4:9 209 

Gen. 14:23 75 

Gen. 24:6-8 75 

Exod. 15:23, 27 33 

Exod. 20:3 132 

Lev. 11:44, 45 162 

Num. 13:30 31 

Num. 14:24 31 

Deut. io:i2 97 

Josh. 1:7 30 

Josh. 4:20 IS 

Judg. 5:15,16 76 

Judg. 5:18 168 

Judg. 6:13, 14 76 

Judg. 7 : 20 87 

I Sam. 17:37 131 

I Sam. 25 : 29 132 

II Sam. 12:22, 23 185 

I Kings 8:30 196 

I Kings 20:11 169 

II Kings 18:4 , 98 

I Chron. 19:13 29 

I Chron. 32:7, 8 30 

II Chron. 12:14 99 

II Chron. 26:5 99 

Ezra 3:6 IS 

Ezra 8:22, 23 133 

Neh. 2:3 74 

Neh. 5:5 84 

Neh. 5:15 99 

Job 1:21 185 

Ps. 8:4, 5 87 

Ps. 10:11, 14 131 

Ps. 22:21 131 

Ps. 23:5 131 

Ps. 25:22 184 

Ps. 27:8 96 

Ps. 30: sb 31 

Ps. 32 : 6 196 

Ps. 34:21 166 

Ps. 51:16, 17 98 

Ps. 63:1, 2 114 

Ps. 6s :4b 114 

Ps. 73 : 16, 17 IIS 

Ps. 77:10 31 

Ps. 80 196 

Ps. 147:3, 4 32 

Prov. 11:24 169 

Prov. 17:22 167 

Eccles. 4:10 168 

Isa. 6:1 130 

Isa. 6:8 77 

Isa. 19:23, 2S 210 

Isa. 28 : 24, 25 16 

Isa. 32:2 86 

Isa. 35:7 16 

Isa. 40: 1 26 

Isa. 41 : 6 29 

Isa. 42:3, 4 46 

Isa. 58:12 47 

Isa. 61 : 4, 8 45 



PAGE 

Isa. 63 : 5 75 

Isa. 63 : 9 132 

Isa. 66:13 31 

Jer. 2:13 164 

Jer. 31:15, 16 184 

Joel 2:25 46 

Jonah 4:10, II 210 

Mic. 6:8 98 

Mai. 2:10 210 

Matt. 3:1 102 

Matt. 4:17 102 

Matt. 5 : 48 162 

Matt. 10 : 29 134 

Matt. 10:39 168 

Matt. 12:12 87 

Matt. 13:33 103 

Matt. 16:18 116 

Matt. 18:2,3 i°3 

Matt. 23 : 23 165 

Matt. 26 : 39 198 

Matt. 28:19, 20 212 

Luke 6 : 46 106 

Luke 12:6 134 

Luke 15:11-32 86 

Luke 18:13 197 

Luke 20 : 25 77 

John 8:12 14S 

John 13:13 146 

John 14:1 loS 

John 14:30 164 

John 15:4 147 

John 17 : 20, 21 115 

Acts 1:14 198 

Acts 2:36 147 

Acts 10:28 211 

Acts 10:38 146 

Acts 17:23 97 

Acts 17:26 212 

Acts 20:24 -^^9 

Rom. 1:14 212 

Rom. 2:15 97 

I Cor. 3:16, 17 8s 

I Cor. 12:27 IIS 

I Cor. 13:12 182 

I Cor. 15:54 186 

II Cor. 1:3, 4 32 

II Cor. 5:7 148 

II Cor. 5:18, 19 147 

Gal. 2 : 20 148 

Gal. 5:9 1^5 

Gal.6:7 167 

Eph. 4: 13 149 

Phil. 1:27 75, 106 

Phil. 2:5 149 

Phil. 2:1s 77 

I Tim. 2:1, 2 197 

Heb. 2:15 18s 

Jas. 3:5 170 

I Pet. 1:3 133 

Rev. 3:2 116 

Rev. 11:15 213 



219 



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